This GOP candidate should drop out of the 2024 race – and it’s not Christie

Readers Say

“We really don’t need his brand of chaos and revenge for the next four years.”

Chris Christie announced he is dropping out of the Republican presidential race at the Searles School and Chapel in Windham, N.H. on Wednesday. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the Republican 2024 presidential race Wednesday night, in a move that marks the end of his role as the last anti-Trump stronghold within the GOP contest.

Christie was the only candidate to call Trump unfit for office, and reiterated this belief at the town hall event in Windham, N.H.

“Anyone who is unwilling to say that [Trump] is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves to be president of the United States,” he said.

He said his decision to suspend his presidential bid less than two weeks before the state’s Republican presidential primaries on Jan. 23 boiled down to his commitment to being truthful about the threat he said Trump poses to democracy.

“From the moment I got into the race, the decision that I made was really simple: I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win,” Christie said at the town hall event. “And I feel no differently today.”

“It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight,” he added.

Polls suggest that Christie’s exit could boost Haley, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor, and could place her head-to-head with Trump in New Hampshire. There is much overlap between Haley and Christie’s policies, and as a result, Christie supporters could choose Haley as their new pick.

In a CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday, Christie took third place at 12% support among Republican primary voters, with Trump in first at 39% and Haley in second at 32%. Nearly two-in-three Christie supporters (65%) picked Haley as their second choice.

Even though Christie dropped out of the race, he’s not the candidate Boston.com readers said should go.

When we asked readers which GOP candidate they think should drop out of the 2024 presidential race, 45% of the 84 respondents named former president Donald Trump as the contender they wish to see bow out. Twenty-five percent of readers voted for Christie before he announced he was dropping out. Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis tied with 9.5% of readers choosing each as their preferred candidate to drop out.

Readers differed in their opinion on why they think the former president should drop out of the race.

Reader Joe from Boston said the drama and controversy that follows Trump leads him to believe that the former president should drop out of the race.

“We really don’t need his brand of chaos and revenge for the next four years after what we have been experiencing in the past four,” he said. “We need new vision, direction and someone who is willing to work with the other side and keep personal feelings out of governing,” he added.

Louise from Ashburnam said she believes Trump should bow out because he is “not interested in anything but personal gain.”

And for reader J.B. from Weymouth, it is Trump’s complete absence from the debates that he said makes him his drop-out candidate of choice.

“He hasn’t shown up for a single debate – and has never, ever given a comprehensive layout of what he’s actually going to do if he were elected,” he said.

Trump, despite – or, perhaps, in spite of – his absence, is dominating the field.

An Emerson College Polling/WHDH New Hampshire survey conducted this week between Jan. 8 and 10 found that even though Haley gained 10 points since November to earn 28% support among New Hampshire Republican primary voters, she still trails behind the former president who has been the frontrunner of the Republican primaries with 44% support.

Several readers who voted for Christie to drop out said he simply didn’t stand a chance at winning the Republican nomination.

“Haley can win New Hampshire without Christie in the race,” reader Jim D. from Hopkinton said.

Jim from Newton agreed, and suggested he bow out to “give [his] votes to someone who could.”

For J.K. from Danvers said no candidates should ever drop out before the South Carolina primaries, “but if someone has to go, the obvious choice is Chris Christie.”

“No one from either party likes him. The Democrats already hated him and now 100% of the Republicans hate him too. He’s not screwing Trump; by hitting Trump, Christie is screwing the rest of us,” he said.

Boston.com occasionally interacts with readers by conducting informal polls and surveys. These results should be read as an unscientific gauge of readers’ opinion.