Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Sunday declined to take the polls and Donald Trump’s significant lead seriously, essentially deeming the 2016 presidential race as it stands this summer a wash.
“The polls tell me that nobody has any real votes right now,” the Louisiana governor said on ABC’s “This Week.”
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“After we get past this summer of silliness, the voters are going to look at who’s prepared to do the job,” Jindal said, adding “I believe I’m the candidate.”
While Jindal acknowledged that Trump has done a “good job of tapping into anger and frustration that voters feel,” he wouldn’t attach any real weight to his sustained popularity month after month, poll after poll.
When host Martha Raddatz question Jindal as to why his campaign “does not seem to be catching fire at all,” the Republican candidate shot back: “I disagree.”
Despite consistently polling in the back of the pack — a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Jindal at a mere 1% after the first GOP presidential debate — he said Sunday “this is a wide open race.”
“What I see is that voters haven’t committed to any candidate yet,” Jindal said.
Asked if he believed Donald Trump crossed a line in his recent attacks on Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin, Jindal switched the focus to Clinton.
“With Hillary Clinton, it just seems to be one scandal after another,” Jindal said. “She is literally one email away from going to jail.”
Probed further to address Trump’s jabs at Clinton’s team, Jindal stuck to his script. “The bigger scandal here is that Hillary Clinton seems to think the same rules don’t apply to her,” Jindal said of the handling of classified information. “I don’t think we should be distracted by others.” The Louisiana governor is in the spotlight this weekend for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On “This Week,” he discussed the resiliency in New Orleans. “We got back up … We can go through everything,” Jindal said when asked if he’s prepared to handle another Katrina. “These last 10 years showed us that these American people love each other … but we must not become complacent,” Jindal added. “We still have work to do.”
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