According to United Van Lines, over the past few years, New Jerseyans have been fleeing the Garden State and heading to South Carolina. The reasons are many, but for the most part, the cost of living, taxes, and progressivism are the main reasons many are fleeing.
It all started with bail reform, implemented by Governor Chris Christie, and other soft-on-crime policies. Christie left a mess in New Jersey for progressive Democrat Governor Phil Murphy, who has sank the state even further down on most lists states don’t want to be on.
High taxes, sanctuary state policies, anti-police mandates, and freeing dangerous inmates during COVID are just some of the things that have scared people out of the state.
This week, Governor Chris Christie visited South Carolina, hoping his brand of brash, in-your-face northerner would resonate with the people of the deep South.
Causing people to flee his state is one of Christie’s legacies as governor of New Jersey.
“For the fourth year in a row, New Jersey took the number one spot in the survey as the most popular state to move away from. New York, Connecticut, California, and Illinois followed closely behind on the company’s ranking of states experiencing exoduses last year,” the Hill reported.
“Our friends in South Carolina weren’t afraid to bring the heat last week. That was great, because we came with “a whole lotta Jersey” ourselves,” Christie told the audience.
The Washington Examiner somewhat mocked Christie by saying he “Brings a whole lotta Jersey to South Carolina,” a headline geared toward the former governor’s obesity problem.
One South Carolina resident responded to Christie boasting over the Examiner headline, saying, “Ah, yes. If there’s anything that Southerners love, it’s a visitor from up North showing up and insisting on being aggressively Northern. You know your audience so well.”
Christie is still polling at 2% in the 2024 GOP contest for President.