A Republican political consultant does not see a viable path to victory for Donald Trump, pointing to crucial battle states where he is trailing behind in poll numbers.

Karl Rove appeared on Fox News Sunday, pointing out that while Trump can comfortably win 186 electoral votes, the odds are stacked against him to pick up enough swing states to make it to the necessary 270 to win.

Rove, who famously refused to acknowledge that President Obama beat Republican nominee Mitt Romney in Ohio during the 2012 elections, appears to have given up early this time around.

Karl Rove does not see a viable path to victory for Donald Trump (pictured at a campaign rally in Naples, Florida, on Sunday)

Rove appeared on Fox News Sunday (right), pointing out that while Trump can comfortably win 186 electoral votes, the odds are stacked against him to pick up enough swing states to make it to the necessary 270 to win. Host Chris Wallace (left) appeared taken aback when Rove concluded a loss for Trump

Answering host Chris Wallace's questions about Trump's path to victory, Rove said: 'Well, if he plays an inside straight, he could get it, but I doubt that he's going to be able to play it.'

Rove's suggestion is that Trump is struggling to lock down the necessary states to win, since an inside straight describes an incomplete hand in poker.

Rove explained that poll numbers give Trump a comfortable 186 electoral votes.

Even if he wins Ohio, where he holds a one point edge over Hillary Clinton, and Florida, where his lead is under four points, he would still only have 243.

Rove went on to say that Trump trailed too far behind in the rest of the swing states to pick up two more states necessary to push him over 270.

He said, 'I don't see it happening' - an admission that seemed to take Wallace aback.

Rove continued: 'I don't see it happening. Maybe it could, but I doubt that in the just over two weeks that we've got left, conducting the kind of campaign he is conducting, that he's going to be able to swing one out of every, you know, 10 voters...in a state, and convert them.'

The latest ABC News presidential opinion poll shows Trump trailing Clinton by 12 points overall.

Admission: Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said her candidate is behind Hillary

Trump's campaign bluntly acknowledged Sunday that the real estate mogul is trailing Clinton as the presidential race hurtles toward a close, but insisted he still has a viable path to win the White House.

Trump's team said 'the race is not over' and pledged to keep campaigning hard - even in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania that polls show are now trending Clinton's way.

Speaking on NBC's meet The Press with Chuck Todd, Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway laid out a path to the requisite 270 electoral votes that goes through make-or-break states Florida, Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio.

'We are behind. She has some advantages,' Conway said Sunday. Yet she argued that Clinton's advantages - like a slew of bold-name Democrats campaigning for her - belied her lack of true support.

'The current president and first lady, vice president, all are much more popular than she can hope to be.'

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus added: 'We expect to win.'

Rove, whose super-PAC American Crossroads spent millions trying to elect Romney in 2012, had a famous meltdown on election night when Fox news called Ohio for Obama.