Donald Trump on Bernie Sanders: 'He's not going to make it'
(CNN)
Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is unfazed by Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vermont) rising popularity in the Democratic primary.
In an Sunday CNN interview, Trump promised to win the youth vote if he secures the Republican presidential nomination, dismissing Sanders' strength among young voters.
In fact, Trump said he doesn't think Sanders will win the Democratic nomination.
"Bernie's not going to make it, in my opinion. And I never thought he would," Trump said.
Sanders suffered a narrow defeat to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, in Nevada's Democratic caucuses Saturday. Trump captured a victory in the South Carolina Republican primary.
Both candidates have said repeatedly that they would like to run against each other in a general election.
During a Democratic debate in early February, Sanders pointed out that he polled higher than Trump in theoretical head-to-head match ups.
And last month, Trump told a crowd that he would not criticize Sanders because he would be "easy to beat" in a general election.
"This guy Bernie Sanders, give me a break," Trump said.
"We haven't even focused on, I mean here's a guy who's a — they say socialist, but some people say he's a communist," Trump continued. "I shouldn't hit him too hard though, because if I hit him too hard then he'll go down, and it'll be a fight with Hillary, and maybe we want a fight for a while. So I'll say, 'Isn't he a wonderful guy?'"
On Sunday, the real-estate mogul predicted that barring any damaging revelations in the ongoing investigation into Clinton's use of a personal email server while she served as secretary of state, Trump would eventually face off against her in a general election.
"If it's Hillary against me, that's going to be tremendous turnout," Trump said. "I'm going to win."
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