Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanAt indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates Peterson faces fight of his career in deep-red Minnesota district MORE (R-Wis.) says both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz would make better presidents than Barack Obama.

When asked by Yahoo News’s Katie Couric if the country would be better off with a President Trump or a President Cruz, Ryan replied, “Yeah, absolutely.”

“I think any one of these men or women running for president in the Republican primary would be a far better president than Barack Obama. Absolutely,” he said.

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The Speaker is staying neutral in the GOP presidential primary and wouldn’t bite when Couric asked about his 2012 running mate Mitt Romney’s negative views toward Trump.

“Nice try,” he said.

But Ryan did publicly break with Trump last month over the GOP front-runner’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., condemning it as “not conservatism.”

Ryan will be co-hosting a forum on poverty with GOP presidential candidates this Saturday in South Carolina with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Several candidates are slated to attend, but Trump and Cruz are not.

“I like the fact that the action is on our side of the aisle,” Ryan told Couric. “I like the idea that people are talking about the Republican primary because that’s where the vibrant debate is.”