Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he plans to beat former President Donald Trump in the New Hampshire presidential primary and take away “his sense of inevitability.”
Anchor Kristen Welker said, “Former President Trump is solidifying his lead with GOP primary voters. You’ve been in this race since June. Governor, why aren’t you gaining more traction?”
Christie said, “Look, I know you spent a whole lot of money on national polls, so I don’t mean to go after the polling folks, but the fact is that national polls don’t matter. We don’t have a national primary. If you look at Donald Trump in the latest polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the two earliest states, he is barely at 40 in Iowa, and he is under 40 at 34 to 38 in New Hampshire.”
He continued, “That means that between 60 to 65% of the voters in those two very important early states want an alternative. In places like New Hampshire, I’m in second place behind Donald Trump. So, you know, this whole race will change when people actually vote. No offense to any poll that comes out now, but if it’s a national poll if we don’t have a national primary.”
Christie added, “The whole race will change when Iowa happens, and the race will change in New Hampshire, and I’m telling you that if I beat Donald Trump in New Hampshire, and I plan to do so, that his sense of invincibility and his sense of inevitability will go away. There are a lot of Republicans in those numbers, even in your national numbers, who will be with Donald Trump just because they think he really is the only alternative to Joe Biden. When I beat him in New Hampshire, folks will not he’s not the only alternative to Joe Biden.”
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