It’s Chris Christie’s turn to drop out
Zachary Faria
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Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) recognized that he had no path to win the GOP nomination and gracefully bowed out. It’s past time for Chris Christie to do the same.
Chris Christie is not going to be president. He has the highest unfavorable numbers among Republicans of any candidate in the field. He simply can’t win, a fact that he certainly knows. He has made the center of his campaign opposing former President Donald Trump, and obviously has hopes of taking him on in a debate.
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The problem is that Christie’s continued candidacy only helps Trump. He is eating up roughly 8.5% of support in New Hampshire, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Given his entire reason for campaigning is to oppose Trump, it is safe to say that none of those voters would flock to Trump if Christie were to drop out, meaning that staying in the race is absorbing a meaningful chunk of New Hampshire voters that could go to a candidate who could beat Trump, or at least close the gap on his lead to make it more competitive.
Christie is not going to get his wish of debating against Trump, who is content to run a near-basement campaign that keeps him far away from the sharper candidates who could pick apart him and his record of broken promises. So what exactly does Christie hope to accomplish at this point? He won’t get his debate, he can’t actually win the nomination (or any individual primary along the way), and he can only pull support away from other non-Trump candidates who can actually push Trump for the nomination.
Both Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence recognized these realities as applied to them, which is why they both dropped out for the good of the party. These realities apply to Christie’s campaign more so than either of those two. If Christie wants to ensure that Trump does not become the nominee and the party moves on to its next iteration, the best thing he can do is drop out.