Chris Christie Jokingly Shrugs off His Dismal National Poll Ranking: "I Should Just Drop Out"

Chris Christie, who is now polling at the bottom of the Republican primary field, is taking pride in his 6% performance in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa. The former New Jersey governor has garnered support from 80,000 contributors, which is required to qualify for the fourth Republican presidential debate in December. As reported by the Daily Mail, after RealClearPolitics national polls showed Christie at 2.4%, he joked to Fox News presenter Sandra Smith that he should 'just drop out' of the campaign.

When asked about his performance in national surveys, Christie replied, "I don't care where I am in national polling. It doesn't matter, we don't have a national primary, Sandra. If we had a national primary I would be in desperate, horrible straits – but we don't. We have primaries state by state."

It's worth noting that recent data from RealClearPolitics for the presidential race shows former president Donald Trump with 58.1%, Ron DeSantis with 14.8%, Nikki Haley with 9.1%, Vivek Ramaswamy with 4.9%, Tim Scott with 2.6%, and Christie with 2.5%.

Smith, after describing the recent survey data, further asked, "What's your strategy?" to which Christie replied, "Well, geez, I guess, from that, I should just drop out. I mean, the RealClearPolitics average is not worth anything. We don't have a national primary. If you look at what's going on in New Hampshire, I'm in double digits, as is Ambassador Haley. And Donald Trump is below, well below 50 percent in those places. And so, look, we don't have a national primary. I don't know why you guys continue to put up the RealClearPolitics average of national polls."

Christie further added, "In Iowa right now, I'm at 6 percent. By the way, I haven't spent one hour in Iowa since the beginning of this campaign. Eight years ago, I got 1—I got 2%. So the fact is that this is going to be run state-by-state. I am solidly in every poll in either second or third place in New Hampshire, in both instances ahead of Governor DeSantis and, in some instances, ahead of Governor Haley. Some, I'm behind her."

The GOP candidate also commented on Trump, "Well, I don't know that somebody who got indicted four times based upon their conduct in office turns out to have been the right president for the right time. And I look at the way they cuddle up to Donald Trump. Well, good. If you're content with second place, then don't take on the front-runner."

As reported by NBC News, Christie's campaign claims that his message strikes a chord with the public. They told the outlet, "Coming off the heels of Christie’s strong performance at the third debate last week, we’ve seen the best week since he announced, bringing in thousands of new donors in just the few days since... Christie is the only candidate with the courage to consistently tell the hard truths about Donald Trump and make the case for the serious leadership needed for these serious times."

According to the Republican National Committee's polling standards, Christie still has to meet certain standards to participate in the fourth debate. Two nationwide surveys, or one national poll and two early primary state polls, must show at least 6% support for a candidate to be officially nominated.