A red flag for Gov. Chris Christie is tucked into that new national 2016 Quinnipiac University survey this week.

Credit must go to an unnamed unaligned strategist, who writes Yellowhammer that Christie’s favorability rating among Republicans is downright alarming.

It’s 43 percent — just three points better than his 40 percent rating with Democrats and a point lower than his favorability among independents (44 percent).  Among conservatives, Christie’s at 33 percent.  Forty-nine (49 percent) of liberals view him favorably.

The strategist writes:

 . . . The really intriguing numbers from Quinni are Christie’s fav/unfavs among GOP and cons, especially jarring next to his relatively good numbers with Ds and Is. He has real problems with the most likely voters in the primaries. And he is toast for caucus states. The Hug ain’t fading from memory. Seems to me he’s more likely to do a national version of Charlie Crist’s meltdown during his aborted Senate bid than make it to the point he can slide through the crease in a broken field. I don’t see a path for him even with two or possibly three significant candidates to his right. Lord help him if it gets to one-on-one. It’s a long way out still but unless he mends fences, he’s John Connally 1980 if he’s lucky. Looks like he has Mitt’s money men and list so he will raise some serious money, but he’s going to have trouble winning delegates.

Comparatively, Rand Paul’s ratings among Republicans and conservatives are demonstrably better than Christie’s.

Among GOPers, Rand is at 56 percent; among conservatives he’s at 51 percent favorability.

You can catch my initial 4 takeaways on the Quinnipiac survey here.

Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com