Republicans: Christie Could've Contended in NH

Chris Christie could have been a contender for the GOP presidential nomination if he had decided to jump into the race, according to influential Republicans in New Hampshire and two other early-voting states.

Fifty-seven percent of the 156 Republicans in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina surveyed for the latest Patch-Huffington Post Power Outsiders Poll used positive words to describe the New Jersey governor, who announced Tuesday that he would not run for president. The most frequent positive words used to describe him were "bold," "strong," "direct" and "leader."

Only 16 percent of the words used to describe Christie were unambiguously negative, including "unknown," "unproven" and "inexperienced."

Four out of five of those polled said Christie would make a good president, and 76 percent said they thought he could beat Barack Obama in a general election.

The positive views of Christie fell just short of , but are nearly identical to just after entering the presidential race.

Each week, our local Patch editors will be asking influential New Hampshire Republicans questions about the presidential campaign, and we'll report the results here.

We’re still looking to expand our list of influential members of both parties in New Hampshire. If you’d like to participate, email marc.fortier@patch.com and we’ll connect you with the appropriate Patch editor.