ALBANY – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would clobber Gov. Cuomo in a race for the White House, a new national poll found.
The Jersey boy trounces the Queens native in a battle of the Hudson, 45-28 percent, according to the Quinnipiac University survey released today.
Republican Christie would also edge Vice President Joe Biden 43-40.
But before Christie tries throwing his political weight around nationally, he’d lose to former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton 45-37, the Feb. 27-March 4 telephone survey of 1,944 registered voters found.
Clinton – on the strength of her appeal to independent voters – would also best US Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) 50-34 and 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan 50-38.
“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would start a 2016 presidential campaign with enormous advantages,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “She obviously is by far the best known and her more than 20 years in the public spotlight allows her to create a very favorable impression on the American people. But it is worth noting that she had very good poll numbers in 2006 looking toward the 2008 election, before she faced a relative unknown in Barack Obama.”
Democrat Cuomo and Rubio are locked in a 37-37 tie – and Cuomo would lose to Rep. Ryan, of Wisconsin, 42-37.
On the heels of Cuomo signing the nation’s toughest gun control laws in January, about a month after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., the poll found strong support (88-10) for background checks for all gun buyers – including 85-13 percent among voters in households with guns.
Support was narrower for nationwide bans on the sale of assault weapons (54-41) and the sale of ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds (54-42).
Voters gave poor marks to the job both parties are doing in Congress, though Democrats (32-60) fared better than Republicans (20-71).
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.