Rubio: ‘Trump is not going to be the nominee’

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday brushed aside fellow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s popularity in recent polls, saying the controversial businessman would lack staying power.

“Donald Trump is not going to be the nominee of the Republican party,” Rubio said on “CBS This Morning,” dismissing recent surveys showing Trump atop a crowded GOP field.

{mosads}”These polls at this point basically are measuring who people are hearing about on the news, and Donald Trump is benefiting from that,” Rubio said.

Trump is currently first in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Rubio said Friday that the GOP nominee must offer “an optimistic but realistic vision of the 21st century” that acknowledges globalization’s impact on the economy and technological advances.

He also took a shot at the “constant drama that surrounds” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner. Reports emerged Thursday that the Justice Department has been asked to open a criminal inquiry into the private email server she used as the nation’s top diplomat.

But while Republicans have sought to put the focus back on Clinton, Trump has dominated media attention and political conservations more than a month after launching his own White House bid.

Trump declared Thursday during a trip to the nation’s southern border, “I think I’ll get the nomination.”