Al Gore, Walter Mondale, George McGovern. They’re not just candidates who lost presidential elections – all three also lost their home states.
Could Chris Christie join the club? 2016 is a long way off, but the latest Quinnipiac poll has Christie trailing Hillary Clinton in his home state of New Jersey in a hypothetical 2016 presidential matchup. The survey indicates that half of New Jersey residents don’t want to see Christie run for president (they came out 50–44 against the idea) and that he would lose a potential matchup against Clinton 50–39.
That’s a stronger performance that the other Republican candidates the survey inquired about, though. It shows former Florida governor Jeb Bush losing to Clinton in New Jersey, a state that hasn’t gone Republican since 1988, 52–31; Kentucky senator Rand Paul losing 55–31; and the 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney losing 52–35.
Christie has sold himself as a Republican with blue-state appeal and, if he does run for president, that will certainly be part of his pitch. He may have to bump up the numbers in his home state to make it convincing.