New Jersey residents didn’t pull any punches when asked about Gov. Chris Christie’s beach day during the government shutdown earlier this month — with 6 percent using some form of profanity to express their “sentiments” about the trip, according to the latest Monmouth University poll.
His decision to visit Island Beach State Park on July 2 has sparked widespread outrage across the Garden State, since the public was banned from the popular summer spot due to the budgetary showdown with Democrats.
Christie’s approval rating has plummeted to a measly 15 percent after 86 percent of those polled claimed to have seen the now-infamous pictures of him and his family lounging on an empty stretch of the Berkeley Township beach in the wake of the shutdown.
Seven percent of those polled by Monmouth said they felt “disgusted” by Christie’s cheeky beach day — with several people describing him as “selfish” and “arrogant.”
“Another 6% of those polled simply used some form of profanity to express their sentiments about Christie’s beach day,” the school wrote in its press release. “Fewer than 1-in-10 New Jerseyans have anything positive to say or even report not being bothered by the incident in any way.”
Others dubbed Christie a “hypocrite” and said they felt “betrayed” by his actions, according to Monmouth.
The 54-year-old has refused to apologize for the trip, saying: “I think I’ve proven over the last eight years, if I have a choice to make between my family and political optics, then I’m going to pick my family.”