President Donald Trump predicted on Thursday that one of the three Democratic presidential candidates who is currently polling as a top three contender will end up winning the party’s nomination for the presidency.
“Look, they all have their weaknesses and their strengths. I think that they’re very different – you certainly have a lot of different voices up there,” Trump responded when a reporter asked which Democratic presidential hopeful would be his strongest opponent.
Trump further anticipated that the Democratic nomination will likely end up going to former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) since they have been consistently polling so far ahead of the rest of the primary field.
“But it would look to me like it would be Elizabeth Warren and it looks like Joe maybe will be able to get there, maybe not, I don’t know,” the president said. “And certainly Bernie is there, he’s number three. But I think that’s because they’re so far in the lead, the three of them.”
Accordingly, Biden has been outperforming both Warren and Sanders by an average of nearly 10 points. The former vice president has been consistently polling in the low-30s to mid-20s, with the progressive duo both hovering in the high-teens. While Warren has been gaining momentum, Sanders still has a razor-thin edge over his progressive counterpart by less than one percent, according to Real Clear Politics’ average polling data.
“And if you remember — I’m sure you forget my Republican primaries, but I went to the lead at the very beginning and stayed there,” Trump continued to reporters. “You know, if you don’t make a really major mistake, he should be able to make it, I would imagine Biden would be able to make it if he doesn’t make any major mistakes. We’ll see what happens.”
Trump’s remarks came as he was preparing to travel to Baltimore, Maryland to speak at the House Republican members’ annual retreat. Prior to boarding Marine One, he was asked about his expectations regarding the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) third primary debate, which would be kicking off over the next few hours.
“I don’t expect too much difference, I mean, you have three people who are leading,” Trump replied. “I sort of think that those three people are going to take it to the end – it’s going to be one of those three I think. But you never know in politics, do we? You know better than I, you never know in politics.”
The president also lamented the fact that he would not be able to watch the debate live due to his scheduling conflict with the retreat, but he noted that he would catch up on the event afterward.
“It’s too bad I’m going to miss it, I’m going to have to have it somehow taped,” Trump said. “I didn’t even tell them about that, so many it’s not that important, but it is important. Look, it’s going to be very interesting, I look forward to going home, I’m going to have to watch it as a rerun because many of you are coming to Baltimore with me.”
Related: Beto Says ‘Hell Yes’ We’re Going To Take Americans’ Guns; WATCH How Democratic Crowd Responds