11:36 a.m. | Updated Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has decided not to seek the presidency, according to two associates.  Mr. Christie is scheduled to announce his decision at a news conference in the state capital at 1 p.m. But one adviser to the governor and another person who spoke to him directly said Tuesday morning that the governor would not pursue the Republican nomination.  The decision ends a late flurry of indecision on the part of Mr. Christie, who had been encouraged by a growing number of Republican donors and activists who had hoped he would add his name to the field of candidates vying to challenge President Obama.  But Mr. Christie, who was elected governor in 2009, had long said that he did not feel ready to pursue the presidency. At one point, he joked that he would have to commit suicide to convince people he was not running.  Mr. Christie, through an associate, advised at least two top Republican Party officials in Washington on Tuesday morning of his intention not to run.  With Mr. Christie out, attention will quickly turn back to the rivalry between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for the Republican nomination. Polls suggest that Mr. Perry’s support has dropped significantly after recent problems on the campaign trail and in debates.  Mr. Romney, meanwhile, continues to have difficulty earning the support of Tea Party advocates and other conservatives in the Republican Party.  The pressure on Mr. Christie to run reflected in part the unease among some in the Republican Party that they do not have a candidate who can beat Mr. Obama in the fall. Those urging him to run said they believed his tough-talking style and blunt approach to governing would contrast well with the president.  Among Mr. Christie’s inner circle, one of the strongest arguments for mounting a run now was a concern that, if he did not, another Republican could well defeat Mr. Obama, thereby foreclosing a 2016 campaign to Mr. Christie. But people who have spoken to Mr. Christie in recent days said that apart from such calculations, he had not become any more eager to run for the presidency this year.  Indeed, at a forum last week, he spoke with distaste of the prospect of finding himself “in a hotel room in Des Moines and its 5:30 in the morning, and it’s 15 below, and it’s time for me to get up and go shake hands at the meatpacking plant.”  Mr. Christie’s moderate views on gun control, climate change and immigration would likely have been issues for him in the primary campaign, especially in places where conservatives make up a large share of the voters.  His decision comes in the wake of a new poll showing that a broad majority of voters do not yet have an opinion of Mr. Christie. And the poll, by CBS News and conducted before Mr. Christie decided not to run, found that just one-third of Republican primary voters say they want him to throw his hat in the ring. Seven in ten voters over all and 63 percent of voters who say they intend to vote in a Republican primary next year were either undecided or did not have an opinion of Mr. Christie, who had been flirting with a presidential run in recent weeks. Twenty-nine percent of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of Mr. Christie and just 9 percent have an unfavorable opinion. While 32 percent of Republican primary voters would like to see Mr. Christie run for president, 38 percent say they would not, and 30 percent do not yet have an opinion. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found higher support for a Christie run at 42 percent, but the question was asked of all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and not only Republican primary voters as in the CBS News poll. In the ABC News poll, 34 percent did not support his candidacy, and 24 percent had no opinion.  Jeff Zeleny, Jim Rutenberg and Megan Thee-Brenan contributed reporting.
Chris Christie has decided not to run for the White House, despite increasing pressure to join the field.