Hillary Clinton has double-digit lead over Chris Christie: Poll

New Jersey voters have a message for Gov. Chris Christie: Don’t launch a 2016 presidential bid. A new poll shows he’d lose — and handily — to Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup.

The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday and conducted among 1,340 registered voters, has Clinton with an 11-percentage point lead over Christie (50-39) in the hypothetical matchup. Clinton has an even bigger lead over other potential Republicans.

• 53 – 31 percent over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush;
• 55 – 31 percent over U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky;
• 52 – 35 percent over 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Of those surveyed, 50 percent say Christie should not launch a presidential bid.

“Even Jersey guys, actually Jersey girls, don’t think the nation will go for a Jersey guy like Gov. Christopher Christie,” said Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Shades of Woodrow Wilson. The last Jersey guy who got elected president did not carry the state in his 1916 reelection. And this poll shows we haven’t changed in the last century.”