BARACK Obama believes he would have beaten Donald Trump in a battle for The White House.

But the outgoing US President's boasts have been jumped upon by the man in line to replace him.

In an interview with his former aide David Axelrod on his CNN podcast, Mr Obama was confident he would have prevented Trump’s rise had he been allowed to serve a third term as US President.

President Obama believed most Americans still subscribed to his progressive ideals and policies.

“I am confident in this vision because I’m confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilised a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” he said.

“We see it in this younger generation that is smarter, more tolerant, more innovative, more creative, more entrepreneurial, would not even think about, you know, discriminating against somebody for example because of their sexual orientation.”

It didn’t take President-elect Trump, who swept aside Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November’s election to hit back.

“President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! — jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.” he wrote on Twitter.

President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016

Despite winning the popular vote by around three million, Clinton was beaten in the vital battleground Rust Belt states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Clinton was also unable draw as many African-American voters to the poll as Obama had done.

According to a recent poll by HuffPost Pollster, Obama has a favourable rating of 55 per cent, while Trump’s sits at 43 per cent.

TRUMP’S PICK SPARKS HOT DEBATE

If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for US ambassador.

The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government. So far to the right is Friedman that many Israel supporters worry he could push Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be more extreme, scuttling prospects for peace with Palestinians in the process.

The heated debate over Friedman’s selection is playing out just as fresh tensions erupt between the US and Israel.

In a stunning decision Friday, the Obama administration moved to allow the UN Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements as illegal. The move to abstain, rather than veto, defied years of U.S. tradition of shielding Israel from such resolutions, and elicited condemnation from Israel, lawmakers of both parties, and especially Trump.

“Things will be different after Jan. 20th,” when he’s sworn in, Trump vowed Friday on Twitter.

TRUMP CRITICISES THE UN

Days after the United Nations voted to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Donald Trump questioned its effectiveness, saying it’s just a club for people to “have a good time.”

The president-elect wrote on Twitter that the UN has “such great potential,” but it has become “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!”

On Friday, Trump warned, “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th,” referring to the day he takes office.

The decision by the Obama administration to abstain from Friday’s UN vote brushed aside Trump’s demands that the US exercise its veto and provided a climax to years of icy relations with Israel’s leadership.

The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016

Trump told The Associated Press last December that he wanted to be “very neutral” on Israel-Palestinian issues. But his tone became decidedly more pro- Israel as the presidential campaign progressed. He has spoken disparagingly of Palestinians, saying they have been “taken over” by or are condoning militant groups.

Trump’s criticism of the UN is by no means unique.

While the organisation does engage in large-scale humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts around the world, its massive bureaucracy has long been a source of controversy.

The organisation has been accused by some Western governments of being inefficient and frivolous, while developing nations have said it is overly influenced by wealthier nations. The president-elect is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He had no public schedule Monday.