former Governor Chris Christie will announce his 2024 bid for the White House at a town hall event scheduled for next Tuesday in New Hampshire a state that flat out rejected him during his 2016 presidential run well after dropping out of that race Christie quickly became a close Ally of Donald Trump but has since turned into one of the former president's harshest critics now the two are once again on a collision course for the White House the campaign news comes just days after Christie's allies announced they formed a Super PAC to support his presidential Ambitions that's despite National polling indicating he's at the bottom of the pack of GOP contenders senior political correspondent David Cruz reports [Music] Once Upon a Time former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was the GOP gold standard for telling it like it is but in 2016 Christie's style and chances for making a run at the White House were hijacked by an even more pugnacious character written by a nice reporter now the poor guy you got to see this guy oh I don't know what I said ah I don't remember he's gonna lie I don't remember I thought oh baby that's what I said the rest is kind of History was the first to back the bigger bully only to soon find himself on the outs nowadays he's used his platform on ABC News to remake himself as the most vocal critic of the former president still even as he prepares to announce another run for president Christie is polling pretty much as he did in 2016 in single digits but that's not even the worst of it says Patrick Murray of the Monmouth University polling Institute we know that he's a good campaigner but he's just not popular uh you know in this last poll that we did we polled 10 current and potential candidates including Chris Christie I think over the past four months we've probably polled about 20 different potential contenders Chris Christie is the only one with significant negative ratings from Republican voters this is these are the people are gonna he's got to appeal to to get the nomination you know by two to one 21 favorable to 40 uh seven percent unfavorable uh that's a he there's no group that within the Republican party that he has a net favorable rating with the latest Monmouth poll puts Donald Trump still ahead of the pack even ahead of the presumed favorite alternative to Trump Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Christie set to return to New Hampshire next week to formally announce his candidacy his close advisors are laying out a simple strategy punch Trump in the face as often as possible especially on the debate stage and when he takes on Donald Trump you're going to finally see somebody who can go toe-to-toe he's the Mike Tyson at a Republican party and let's see if Trump can take a real hit from a guy like Chris Christie state Senator John bramnick has been a Christie Insider for years he's also been New Jersey's Premier anti-trump Republican he dismisses the early polls and says the trenchant Chris Christie should not be taken lightly Chris Christie is so smart he remembers everything you ever said he'll bring it back hit you between the eyes he'll tie and untie your shoes and hit you again before you know he title untied your shoes for example here's the bottom line This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not there it is he knows exactly it'll make for great popcorn moments uh and you know what we do need somebody who's in it who has that capacity who you know and whether or not he ultimately ends up being the nominee or not he has an absolute place that I think is needed to be able to you know it kind of put things onto an even playing field Christie's supporters admit that this is a long shot candidacy even when Trump's bad somehow especially when he's bad it's good for him his base is solidified but it's not expanding and Christy thinks there's a lane there on which someone who can tell the Donald where to go could take a long drive I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News [Music]