Bernie Sanders supporter and Democrat political strategist/analyst Harlan Hill claims that at least 40 percent of the Bernie voters would vote for GOP front-runner Donald Trump in the general election.

This bold prediction (see clip below) based on what he considers common ground between Sanders and Trump is premised on the expectation that Hillary Clinton — with the help of so-called super delegates and insiders — rather than Sanders will secure the presidential nomination at this summer’s DNC convention in Philadelphia.

Hill is not a fan of Hillary, insisting that she lacks the judgment to be president based on her track record in the State Department and as a U.S. senator.

Hill’s website indicates that he has provided advice for 120 political campaigns in the last seven years, including 27 for U.S. Congress and six for U.S. Senate.

Among other issues, both Sanders and Trump opposed the Iraq War and have denounced one-sided international trade deals favored by both political party establishments that send U.S. jobs overseas.

In an appearance with FNC’s Neil Cavuto (whose show the New York real estate mogul is boycotting because of what he considers unfair treatment), Harlan Hill has this to say about disgruntled Bernie Sanders voters.

“Almost 40% of Bernie Sanders supporters say they will not support Hillary Clinton in the general election. And I expect that number to grow…I think they will either stay home or they will cross over.”

When Cavuto asked Hill where these voters will go, he declared that they will climb aboard the Trump train.

“Donald Trump. That’s it. They’re not going to vote for Ted Cruz…I’m going to do a test at some point—who said it, Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders? There is a lot of commonality between the two candidates, believe it or not, particularly on issues of trade. I think there is common ground that if Donald Trump plays his cards right, he could appeal to a lot of Democrats.”

The strategist even suggested he might work for the Trump campaign if Sanders fails to dislodge Hillary Clinton.

In a prior appearance on the Fox Business Channel, Harlan Hill admitted that the would vote for Donald Trump, as would a lot of union members based on the trade issue.

According to liberal website the Atlantic, Sanders and Trump share a number of similar populist views: “Both oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, both support maintaining or expanding current levels of Social Security benefits, both support some upper-income tax hikes…”

“There’s no getting around the fact that Trump and Sanders have a lot in common. Maybe liberals ought to just embrace it,” the article concludes.

Both have slammed the excessive influence of lobbyists on politicians, (Trump has repeatedly boasted about self-funding his campaign), and Sanders has particular pressed Clinton about all the cash she has raked in from Wall Street banks and other special interests.

[Photo by David Goldman/AP]

Trump is a first-time candidate, while Sanders has been in Congress since 1991, however.

You may recall that in an MSNBC town hall back in February, Trump inexplicably walked into an beyond-obvious gotcha question from Mika Brzezinski when she read off a list of Bernie Sanders’ policy positions and Trump thought she was talking about him.

After a gaffe-and controversy-prone several weeks in the runup to the Wisconsin Primary loss, Trump seems to be on the rebound, and is holding a big lead over rival Ted Cruz in Tuesday’s New York Primary as well as several other upcoming primaries if polling data is accurate. Clinton and Cruz are locked in a tight contest for the Empire State, according to polls.

Based on a Reuters national tracking poll, Trump has pulled ahead of Cruz on a national basis by a commanding margin of 45.4 percent to 29.4 percent.

Trump currently has 744 delegates to Cruz’s 545 (with controversy swirling over Team Cruz allegedly poaching delegates that should go to Trump), with 1,237 needed for the nomination this summer at the GOP convention in Cleveland.

Senator Sanders has garnered a lot of publicity for his trip to the Vatican this morning for an income inequality conference, but Pope Francis downplayed his face-to-face with the candidate by saying that he met up with Sanders and his wife briefly as they were leaving. “When I came down, I greeted them, shook their hands and nothing more. This is good manners. It’s called good manners and not getting mixed up in politics. If anyone thinks that greeting someone means getting involved in politics, they should see a psychiatrist,” the Pope remarked.

"Your only two choices are a socialist and a corrupt criminal." Voter leaving Dems after 30 years to vote for Trump.https://t.co/TXUElauFNJ — FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) April 15, 2016

If Bernie Sanders falls short in his quest for the Democrat presidential nomination, do you think that a significant cohort of his “Bernie or bust” supporters will vote for Donald Trump, assuming Trump secures the GOP nod?

[Photo by Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo]