Hillary Clinton more popular than Chris Christie in New Jersey

Hillary Clinton has a higher favorability rating than the president and other political figures, including some possible rivals, in three important states, according to a new poll.

Clinton is more popular in New Jersey than Gov. Chris Christie (R), more popular in New York than Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and more popular in Virginia than newly-elected Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).

Clinton’s maintains a favorability rating of 64 percent in New York, 56 percent in Virginia and 59 percent in New Jersey, according to a joint poll released Tuesday by Roanoke, Rutgers-Eagleton and Siena College. 

{mosads}Clinton’s favorable rating is 11 points higher than Christie (R) in his home state, where he maintains a 48 percent favorable rating. Christie’s numbers have likely been hurt by the political controversy over lane closures on the George Washington Bridget between New Jersey and New York.

Christie, another potential candidate for president, holds a 40 percent rating in Virginia and a 42 percent rating in New York. 

In all three states, Clinton has higher ratings than other potential GOP candidates including Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.).

The poll notes the three states contain 56 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. 

New Jersey and New York are both Democratic strongholds in presidential elections. Clinton’s favorable rating is 37 percent higher than Ryan’s in New York and 35 percent higher in New Jersey. 

In the battleground state of Virginia, Ryan’s favorable rating of 43 percent is 13 points behind Clinton. 

Similarly, Paul’s 34 percent favorable rating in Virginia trails Clinton by 22 percent.  

In New York, he trails Clinton by 42 percent, and in New Jersey he lags by 33 percent. 

Voters would most like to see Clinton as the next president in all three states — 39 percent in New York, 29 percent in Virginia and 35 percent in New Jersey. 

On a list of more than 20 other potential candidates, Christie is the only one that manages to break into double digits.  

Sixteen percent of New Jersey voters would like to see Christie as president, while 7 percent of Virginia voters and 8 percent of New York voters would like to see the same. 

A separate poll from Virginia released Monday found Clinton leading the GOP field in potential matchups as well. 

The poll is based on responses from more than 700 voters from each state, for a total of 2,156 registered voters. The margin of error is 3.7 percentage points in each state.