New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's ratings slide in state poll

NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's approval ratings have fallen after the one-time presidential hopeful endorsed Republican front-runner Donald Trump, according to a statewide opinion poll.

The poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University, released on Wednesday, showed that Christie's approval rating fell to 27 percent from 33 percent before the endorsement.

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The drop was greater among those without party affiliation, with approval falling to 18 percent from 34 percent among that group.

Only 29 percent said New Jersey was headed in the right direction, with 59 percent saying it was not. Fairleigh Dickinson said the rating was the lowest it had recorded during Christie's tenure.

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Christie has drawn fire for spending much of his time out of the state while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. He was expected to return to New Jersey politics after he dropped out of the running, but endorsing Trump has put him back on the campaign trail.

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson's PublicMind was conducted Feb. 24-28 by telephone. It had a randomly selected sample of 694 self-identified registered voters in New Jersey. (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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