By Kieona Buchanan and Katie Marciniak
Rolling Fork, MS and Chicago, IL

Residents of Princeton say they dislike their governor both as the state’s leader and for his role in the current presidential election. Chris Christie’s endorsement of Donald Trump, they believe, is merely a political move to win a cabinet spot after his term is up in 2017.

Devon Davis, a 24-year-old Princeton resident, said he recalls Christie’s budget cuts resulting in a decline in field trip opportunities when he was in high school. So Christie’s decision to work alongside Trump, Davis said, “doesn’t surprise me. They’re for themselves.” 

Many residents also have negative opinions of Christie’s actions as governor. Christie is “very, very negative,” said Chris Cross, a 20-year-old student at Princeton University. Cross also strongly objected to the governor’s opposition to legalizing marijuana.

Cross’s classmate, Bruno Schaffa, 20, said that Christie is an untrustworthy leader. “Chris Christie has no transparency in handling crime,” Schaffa said. “He needs to be tough on crime in the political system.”

Like many educators in New Jersey, Charles Smalls, whose wife is a retired teacher, said he doesn’t believe Christie has supported the education system.

Even residents who are too young to vote said they’re not fans of Christie. Seventeen-year-old Carly Conway, a Democrat, told the Summer Journal that she’s “only heard negative things” about him. He’s “not a good representative of the state,” added her friend Julia Xie, also 17.

But one of the few Republicans on Nassau Street told the Summer Journal that he favors Christie as a “toned down version of Trump.”

“He has to endorse Trump, as a Republican,” Casey Balascak said.