June 13, 2015
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is the least conservative candidate among the large field of Republican hopefuls for the presidency, according to an analysis from The Huffington Post.
Using data from a website called On The Issues, which collects statements and voting records of candidates, the Post put together two charts that scored all of the candidates and potential candidates for 2016 on how liberal or conservative they are.
Christie scored the least conservative of all Republicans. The governor actually scored slightly to the left on individual rights and domestic issues. He was only slightly to the right on domestic and international issues, but was among the middle of the pack with Republicans when it came to economic issues.
The Huffington Post analysis mirrors work done by FiveThirtyEight, which scores candidates in a similar manner. FiveThirtyEight's analysis consistently ranks Christie as the most moderate of the Republican field.
His reputation as a moderate hasn't stopped Christie from recently promoting conservative policy, which has been seen by some as an attempt to identify with the Republican base and reassert himself into the national conversation. Some of the governor's recent talking points have centered around increasing defense spending and overhauling social security.
However in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal, Christie's approval ratings both locally and nationally have suffered, and he is viewed as a long shot for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Christie has not officially announced his candidacy, and is supposed to make a decision sometime in June.
