Although the lane closures in Fort Lee took place over five months ago, the repercussions of the Fort Lee lane-closing scandal caused by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s staff continue on; he denies having any knowledge of the lane closures as they were being planned and taking place, but nevertheless, his public reputation has been severely tarnished. A recent McClatchy-Marist poll found that, in a hypothetical presidential election, voters would choose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Governor Chris Christie by a margin of 21 points. Last month, while the scandal was in the process of unfolding, the gap between the two candidates sat at only 12 points.

Additionally, the majority of the public believes that he isn’t telling the truth, and only 33% have a favorable opinion of Christie. Even more telling is that out of all possible Republican candidates tested against Clinton in a hypothetical election, only Sarah Palin polled worse than Christie. This is troubling news for Christie’s hopes for the candidacy in 2016, especially since he is generally seen as a more moderate choice compared to other potential candidates (such as Ted Cruz, who is revered among Tea Party followers but ridiculed by moderate conservatives and independents). The leading candidate in this poll, Paul Ryan, still trails Clinton by an 8-point margin; clearly, the Republican Party has an uphill battle to face in the coming years. Still, the election isn’t taking place for nearly another three years, so current polls hold very little weight: Rudy Giuliani was consistently leading polls among potential GOP candidates a few years before the 2008 election, and he ended up withdrawing at the beginning of the Republican primaries. Whether the public will forget about this debacle in two and a half years remains to be seen.