Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said over the weekend that an unprecedented factor in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries means that it is going to be a lot harder to make accurate predictions about what is going to happen when it comes time to vote.
Christie made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan when asked if he will drop if he does not make the debate stage this week.
“I don’t think they’ve told anybody yet who all of us are going to be on the stage, but I’m confident, Margaret, that I will be there and that we have all the qualifications necessary to get there,” he said.
“Look, this field has already consolidated more than any non-incumbent field in this century,” he said. “Back this time eight years ago, we had 13 candidates still in the race. At this time back, you know, in 2011, we had eight candidates in the race. And at this time back in 2007, we had nine candidates in the race.”
“And so this field has consolidated significantly,” he said. “And I suspect it will consolidate more after folks vote in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
When Brennan confronted him about how he thinks things are going to go given the fact that former President Donald Trump is currently leading, Christie mentioned that the criminal indictments Trump is facing add a lot of uncertainty to how things could shake out.
“The other thing that makes it different is he’s got 91 counts of indictment against him,” he said. “The day before Super Tuesday, he’s going to start a criminal trial, where his former chief of staff and one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus is going to testify that he committed crimes on his watch and was directed to commit crimes by Donald Trump.”
“There’s a lot of things different about this,” he added. “And that’s why anybody tried to predict this is just shooting in the dark.”
“I don’t think you know exactly what’s going to happen at all until people vote,” he said. “Look, if we listened to all the polling, Margaret, Hillary Clinton would be in her second term. So I don’t believe that polling is nearly as reliable as it used to be. And I don’t believe that people tell the truth to pollsters. And so, at the end of the day, everybody who’s trying to make these decisions now are just wrong. Let’s remember something. In this – in the Republican primary in ’07, do you know who was winning at this time in ’07? Mitt Romney.”
“You know who was winning at this time in ’11? Newt Gingrich. And winning this time in ’15 was Ben Carson. I don’t remember any of those presidencies,” he continued. “So, you know, my view, we can’t worry about that kind of stuff. What we need to worry about is the direction this country is going in. And most people don’t agree with it. And if you don’t agree with the direction of the country, why would you vote for either Trump or Biden, who have put us in this direction?”
WATCH:
"Anybody trying to predict this is just shooting in the dark," presidential candidate @GovChristie says about the Republican primary. He says about polling showing Donald Trump leading the field: "I don't think you know exactly what's going to happen at all until people vote." pic.twitter.com/UfxGrafXAi
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) December 3, 2023