View full sizeEd Murray/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall meeting in Kearny last month.

TRENTON — Two national polls out today put Gov. Chris Christie at the top of the list of potential running mates for Mitt Romney.

Christie would give the presumptive GOP presidential nominee the biggest boost of other short-list names, allowing him to tie President Barack Obama 47 to 47, a survey by Public Policy Polling found.

With Christie on the ticket, 86 percent of Republicans surveyed prefer Romney with the number dropping to 82 percent without him.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who suspended his presidential campaign last week, would help Romney shore up the Republican vote, but not enough to beat Obama. The Democratic president maintains a slight lead of 48 to 47 percent over Romney with Bush and 48 to 46 percent with Huckabee and Santorum.

However, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hurt the Romney campaign, pushing the margin of defeat to 4 to 7 percentage points.

A Quinnipiac University poll found Christie is more well known than other would-be contenders for vice president, with 31 percent of those surveyed calling him a “good choice” compared to 18 percent saying he would be a bad choice, though 49 percent have no opinion.

Thirty-three percent of independents favor him to 18 percent who do not.

Independents labeled Rubio a “good choice” by 27 percent, which drops to 24 percent among voters overall. Ryan comes in just short of Rubio with 25 percent of independents calling him a “good choice,” compared to 23 percent of voters overall.

Governor Christie says it’s not his “desire” or “life long wish” to become Vice President of the United States
Governor Chris Christie said he loves his job as New Jersey Governor and is not looking to become Vice President. Christie believes that GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney understands his stance on the subject. However, he went on to say that if Romney were to call, he would go into the discussion with an open mind. (Video by Andre Malok / The Star-Ledger)
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Quinnipiac University conducted phone surveys with 2,577 registered voters from April 11 to 17; the margin of error is 1.9 percent. Public Policy Polling surveyed 900 voters using automated phone interviews from April 12 to 15; the margin of error is 3.3 percent.

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• Even if Gov. Christie does consider VP post, he’s no sure thing