Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson hinted Wednesday that former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush might be considering an endorsement.
“I can’t say that we haven’t had conversations,” Johnson said in a Wednesday afternoon conversation on CNN from Cleveland. “But no push on the conversations.”
Johnson said he has also had conversations with 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
When asked who initiated the conversations, Johnson replied, “Not me.” When asked if the former Florida governor has called him, Johnson added quickly, “I don’t want to — I want to protect the innocent.”
“You don’t go from being Republican-elected, you don’t go from being the Republican nominee to say, ‘Hey, I’m supporting Gary Johnson,'” Johnson said earlier in the interview. “You go to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to look at his campaign.”
A lot of those conversations have started with small government, something he and the Republicans have in common, Johnson revealed.
In response to a CNN poll that shows 13 percent of respondents expressed support for him, Johnson declared “Yahoo!” and said he “would not be doing this if there weren’t the opportunity to actually win.”
“I think what I’m saying is representative of most Americans,” Johnson said. “I think most Americans are libertarians, it’s just that they don’t know it.”
The Commission on Presidential Debates requires that candidates poll at 15 percent in five national poll leading up to the three scheduled presidential debates to be included on the stage.
In 2012, Johnson won 1 million votes as the Libertarian Party candidate.
