voters agreed that the state should continue to control spending and reduce programs in order to balance the state budget instead of increasing taxes. Consequently, in the October poll, 51% of voters approved the way Christie was handling his job, a seven-point increase over his approval number in May, while 37% disapproved. Woolley commented: "These are strong numbers for a politician who is cutting deeply into the public budget." Through the next couple of months Christie's approval rating remained constant though "favorable" views of him did not match his approvals. For example, in November 2010, FDU PublicMind released a poll in which 49% of the voters approved the job he was doing, while 39% disapproved. This 10 point advantage in his approval rating was much better than his four-point advantage in favorable over unfavorable opinion: 45% said they had a favorable view of the governor and 41% had an unfavorable view. According to a January 2011 FDU PublicMind poll, Christie began the year with the highest approval ratings of his career, 53% approving, 36% disapproving. In addition, Christie's 47–39% favorable/unfavorable opinion rating at the end of his inaugural year in office was better than that of several previous governors included in the same poll: "Jim Florio's rating was at 25–33% favorable to unfavorable; Christine Whitman broke even with 39–41%; Jim McGreevey had a rating of 23–48%; and Christie's predecessor Jon Corzine got 36–52%, actually an improvement from 30–61% when he left office. Only Richard Codey performed very well, with 37% favorable and 11% unfavorable." Christie maintained positive approval ratings until early 2011. In a poll conducted by FDU PublicMind in the midst of more budget battles in May 2011, voters split evenly, with 44% approving and 44% disapproving. However, by September 2011, FDU's PublicMind showed that Christie's approvals "bounced back": 54% of New Jersey voters approved his job as governor while only 36% disapproved. A month later, the FDU PublicMind poll release of October 25, 2011, showed that Christie's numbers remained strong, with 51% approving and 36% disapproving. Governor Christie started 2012 with a majority of NJ residents on his side. According to a January 2012 poll conducted by FDU's PublicMind, with a sample of 800 registered voters, (53%) approved of the way Gov. Christie was handling his job, while 37% disapproved. Woolley commented: "That's the way any office-holder wants to begin the new year." Among voters, men were more