Not a single vote has been cast in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries, and polls can miss the mark, but former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has consistently remained in single digits in the polling (aside from some of the New Hampshire polls), and there's little cause to expect we'll see a sudden surge for the outspoken anti-Trump candidate in the coming weeks. 

Still, he's hung around this long — and it appears he has no intention of bowing out prior to the New Hampshire primary on January 23rd. Which is, of course, his prerogative. But that is causing consternation for some in the Never-Trump/Anti-Trump camp.

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — Chris Christie arrived at an American Legion Post one night this month armed with zingers against his better-performing Republican presidential rivals. He criticized Nikki Haley’s “word salad,” mocked Ron DeSantis’s “TV tough guy talk” and claimed to be the “only one here trying to beat Trump.”

“I’m not going anywhere, so let’s be really clear about that,” he told reporters after the town hall, when asked about calls to drop out. 

That has to be annoying — you're running a campaign and people keep asking when you'll drop out. Given Christie's penchant for pugnacity, his response is hardly surprising. And, let's be honest, no candidate is going to telegraph his or her intentions to leave the race before he or she actually determines to do so — talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, reporters gotta reporter. 

Moreover, Christie's competitors — aside from the frontrunner — have an added interest in seeing him exit the race as the scrap for every percentage point they can pick up in an effort to close that gap. Former South Carolina Governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in particular, has an incentive to encourage Christie's exodus ahead of the New Hampshire primary. 

The frictions over how to narrow the GOP field are palpable in New Hampshire, where Trump leads by a wide margin but Haley — a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador under Trump — has gained ground and climbed into sole possession of a distant second place in the polls. She and Christie are competing for many of the same voters, including anti-Trump Republicans and independents, who can also participate in the GOP primary. A new CBS News-YouGov poll in New Hampshire shows Haley closing the gap with Trump, with the former president at 44 percent and Haley at 29 percent among GOP primary voters, who view her as the most “likable” and “reasonable” candidate. Christie trails far behind at 10 percent.

But Christie's not having it.

Christie forcefully rejected that logic in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, arguing that he is the only major Republican candidate who is making the case, every day on the campaign trail, that Trump is unfit to be president.

...

“There is no leader of the anti-Trump wing of the party in this race other than me,” Christie said, accusing Haley and DeSantis of tiptoeing around criticisms of Trump while positioning themselves for the 2028 nomination fight.

Of course, anything can happen over the next month. But it doesn't look like Chris Christie is going anywhere before Granite State voters cast their primary votes.