OCEAN CITY, N.J. — Voters in New Jersey told PJM that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump should not choose Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) as his running mate.
Trump is reportedly considering Christie as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) as top choices.
“Christie’s got baggage,” one Trump supporter said before mentioning the “Bridgegate” scandal. “That’s got to be his downfall.”
He was not sure who should be Trump’s running mate.
“I am not really happy with the rest of the Republican Party right now. They’re way off — nobody is getting behind Trump and they are ignoring everybody out here that is behind him,” he said. “There’s going to be a surprise. Either they are going to steal the election or Trump is going to win with whoever he has running with him — that’s my opinion.”
Another voter living in N.J. said she is voting for Clinton because “she’s not Trump.”
“He [Christie] hasn’t made any good changes over the years so I don’t think he can do much better as VP,” she said.
A Garden State man who is “begrudgingly” supporting Hillary Clinton said it would be “very difficult” for Trump to win with Christie as a running mate, so he hopes Trump chooses Christie.
“I don’t think she’s [Clinton] a very inspiring political candidate but I think she’s definitely the more prudent of the two choices,” he said.
His wife said, “I think they are both idiots so it might be a good pick for Trump but not a good pick for the country.”
A pro-Christie voter walked by the camera and quickly said, “I would rather see Christie be president.”
A Pennsylvania supporter of Libertarian nominee Gov. Gary Johnson said a Trump-Christie ticket would bring “a lot of loud, boisterous energy” to the election.
“I feel like there should be someone else to complement the loud, boisterous energy, not add to it,” he said, adding that Gingrich would be a “terrible idea” as vice president.
A young voter who appeared on-camera said he would rather vote for President Obama before being interrupted by a friend.
“He can’t. He already did 8 years, moron. I would vote for Donald Trump in a heartbeat. First of all, Hillary committed a crime to our country so that’s gone. Bernie Sanders is 90 years old and has no clue what he is doing. Donald Trump has a plan. Donald Trump has a plan. Trump for life,” he said.
After hearing his friend’s support for Trump, the young voter responded, “If I had to vote I would have to go with Trump though because he can bring the economy back up, so he’s got it.”
Another young voter said he has a life-sized cutout of Trump in his room and a “Hillary for Prison 2016” sign on his front lawn.
“He’s not afraid to say what he wants to say. He’s got the balls to come out and say, ‘alright, we need a change in this country.’ I agree with that 100 percent. We need a change in this country. We need somebody who is not a politician. We need a man with balls like Donald Trump,” he said. “You know what, I’ve got a sign in my front yard that says, ‘Hillary for Prison 2016’ and I agree with that 100 percent. Hillary Clinton deserves to go to prison. She killed people in Benghazi.”
A man who said he used to work at a Trump-owned property said he plans to support Trump but did not elaborate.
A young N.J. resident said he is not going to vote in the election but predicted that Trump will win.
“I think Trump’s a good businessman and I think it would be the first time we had somebody who actually knew what they were doing as far as real life and they weren’t trying to please the people so much, but they’re being honest and doing what they believe to be true. And I believe Trump knows how to work with people so he’s going to win regardless of what we think,” he said.
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