Why Donald Trump Will Regret Chris Christie

No, it's not just the Super Tuesday face meme. According to a new study conducted by Quinnipiac University, Chris Christie's approval numbers are at an all-time low, standing at only 29 percent approval and a whopping 64 percent disapproval rating. That's the lowest number for any governor in six years in the nine states that Quinnipiac surveys, and that's bad news for Donald Trump's campaign. Trump is in deep with Christie already, but these new numbers show why Trump might regret Christie by the end of this election.

The appeal of choosing Christie as an integral part of his team was evident earlier in the campaign. Trump has the red states locked up in the general election, but turning the blue states will be a challenge. Christie was one of the first former presidential candidates to endorse Trump and has made several high profile campaign appearances, and looking forward to the general election, Christie held the promise of delivering New Jersey's 14 electoral college votes and an important gateway to the Northeast. Just last week, Trump chose Christie to lead his potential transition team if he wins in November, and he still hadn't ruled out the New Jersey governor as a potential vice presidential pick.

Yet, now that Christie has hit rock bottom approval rating among New Jerseyans, Trump might have to try backtracking from his current support for Christie. Nearly three in four New Jersey respondents from the Quinnipiac University study said that they wanted Christie eliminated from the potential Trump ticket, which is pretty compelling evidence that Christie won't be much more than dead weight in Trump's campaign, at least from the public opinion angle. Christie got bashed by the New Jersey press earlier this year for spending too much time away from his state, where crises like a railroad strike and lead-tainted water in schools require the governor's attention. As evidenced by his failed presidential campaign and the memes that circulated after Super Tuesday, Christie isn't that popular with the American people in general, and now that he won't do much good in New Jersey, Trump needs to drop him like a hot potato.

There's just one problem — now that Trump has made the official announcement, he seems kind of boxed in. There's no delicate way to say "whoops" on a presidential campaign, and since Trump is trying to cultivate his "presidential" persona, he can't afford to look indecisive or mistaken with something this important. Trump might be stuck with Christie now, which would be a pretty big problem for the general election. Since Trump will be going into the general at a disadvantage according to the latest polls, he needs an incredibly strong VP and support team to pull it off, and if Christie's political capital is all but evaporated, he simply won't be as vital to Trump as he needs to be.

With only a year and a half left in his governorship, Christie most likely won't have time to recover the relationship with the people of new Jersey that he once had, and if Trump doesn't manage to win the White House, Christie's political career might be over. As high as the stakes are for Christie, they're even higher for Trump, who might start to be rethinking his plans for senior staff in his potential administration.