Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said on Thursday he is not betting on Donald Trump in the hunt for next year’s GOP presidential nomination, saying Republicans will eventually abandon the real estate mogul for other White House hopefuls with more substance.
“Do I think it’s likely? I really don’t,” the former Republican National Committee chairman said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked if Trump is capable of winning the GOP nomination.
{mosads}“The fact is that polling in late summer the year before [the] presidential election is generally not indicative or predicative of what’s going to happen in the spring when we start voting,” Barbour said.
“It seems to me common sense says that at some point, we have to start talking about what are different solutions people are going to offer so that the public can choose what I am voting for instead of, you know, give me some more insulting words that don’t have anything to do with trying to get something done,” added Barbour.
Barbour argued that Trump and other outsider presidential candidates, like retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), are resonating with voters exhausted by the political establishment.
“The public is incredibly dissatisfied with the government and the government has had poor performance [ratings],” he said. “So there’s huge dissatisfaction out there.
“Donald Trump plays to that through celebrity and insults and everybody is stupid,” Barbour added.
Barbour praised Carson on Thursday for offering a more humble persona than Trump while still providing voters with a fresh angle on public service.
“Well, Ben Carson is about as impressive as anybody you’ve ever met,” he said. “What a story of his life, his achievements.
“He comes across as an honorable person who is in this for all of the right reasons,” Barbour said.
“Both of them are tapping into the vein of the American people, Democrats and Republicans, saying, ‘I’m dissatisfied, I want something different,’” Barbour added of Carson and Trump.
Barbour’s remarks come as Trump leads the race for the GOP’s presidential nomination across multiple national polls.
Trump ranks first with 29.8 percent voter support, followed by Carson with 16 percent, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average.