"I know how to win," the former Florida governor says. Jeb Bush: 'I'm not quitting'

Jeb Bush is not quitting his pursuit of the White House, the Republican presidential candidate said in a interview with CNN, saying the American people are "desperate" for someone who will work hard for them and dismissing a call from Donald Trump to drop out of the race.

"This is the real world. Now, in the pundit world where it’s all about this kind of bizarre tweeting out things that aren’t relevant to anybody’s real life, you know, that’s another subject," the former Florida governor said in a segment on CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday morning. "I’m not going to win over the punditry class, for sure, but I know I can win over people that aspire to a better life for themselves and their family," he added.


Trump has run for president twice and quit, Bush said, noting that he has run for governor "in the biggest swing state and won twice." Earlier on Tuesday, Trump told ABC's "Good Morning America" that Bush should "absolutely" get out of the running.

"I know how to win," Bush countered. "I've done it. I actually know how to govern, which is going to be an attribute as we get closer to the election."

Two new polls out Wednesday suggested that Bush has his work cut out for him among Republicans in New Hampshire and nationally. In a WBUR survey of New Hampshire Republican voters, the former governor earned 7 percent, trailing Trump and Ben Carson by double digits. And in a national Quinnipiac University poll, Bush fell to just 4 percent, down 6 points from September.

Pressed further on whether he is leaving the race as Trump has urged him to do, Bush said he is not.

“Ha, no. I mean, do we have to talk about Donald Trump? No, I’m not quitting. He’s entertaining, he’s fun. He says really funny things in the breaks in the debate, but I’m running for president of the United States, and it’s a serious endeavor," he said. "I do it with joy. There’s a lot of fun parts of it, for sure.”

“I’m the best-qualified guy to be president. If you're comparing me to Donald Trump, I'm the most qualified to be president," Bush told interviewer Jamie Gangel. "And it's not pushing people down when I say that. And if it makes you feel better, everyone on the Republican stage is better than Hillary Clinton.

"That’s a low bar, though," he added.