Jeb Bush said Sunday that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump would get “crushed” by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election.
“Donald Trump I don’t believe will be the party’s nominee. If he is, he’ll get crushed by Hillary Clinton,” Bush told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”
“He’s some things that are just outrageous,” Bush said.
Trump has harshly attacked Bush on the trail, and Bush has worked to respond in kind, taking aim at Trump at the last GOP debate and in campaign ads.
Trump’s “views on policy have shifted with the winds,” Bush, who ranks fifth in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, said Sunday. “He is a strong supporter until recently of Hillary Clinton, and now he’s the front-running candidate for the Republican nomination?”
Wallace pressed Bush on the state of his campaign, noting Bush’s steep fall in the polls from a year ago. He was the early front-runner just before formal presidential announcements began, and compiled a massive campaign war chest.
But Bush’s investment of campaign funds on ads in key states has done little to help him recover in the polls.
“Advertising in this world doesn’t work to the same extent it probably did in the past,” Bush conceded.
Trump has so far done limited advertising and spent far less than Bush.
Bush, appearing frustrated, downplayed polls, noting no Americans have actually voted yet. He said the election is up to them, not “the punditry class.”
“Your world is all about process,” Bush told Wallace. “My world is about connecting with voters.”
“Let’s let people in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina and Nevada decide [who’s winning]. Nevadans I think have a right to be able to make that decision, not the punditry class,” Bush said.
