In an interview with CBS at the Aspen Ideas Festival former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he would not vote for wither Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump or Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 
 
 "I think it is very likely, probably that either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is the next President," Romney said. "I have to be honest, Hillary Clinton in my view is not an ideal person to be president, I disagree with her policies on a whole host of areas," he said. 
 
 "And, at the same time, as I have expressed about Mr. Trump, I believe on the basis of temperament, and character that those are areas where I feel I simply can't vote for him," he said. 
 
 "I will either write in my wife's name, who will be an ideal president, or I will write in the name of a third party candidate," he said. 

 Mitt Romney says that he will not vote for either Donald Trump Donald John TrumpSpicer, Scaramucci among party goers at Beatles-themed WHCD bash Trump cites GOP report to dismiss collusion claims: Mueller 'should never' have been appointed Pence to visit US-Mexico border next week: report MORE or Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonClinton calls for FEC to let campaigns use funds for childcare Schiff: GOP 'refused' to issue subpoena for mystery Trump Jr. call Overnight Cybersecurity: House Intel releases final Russia report | Faults both Trump, Clinton campaigns | New NSA chief to take over next week | Federal lab launches new projects against ransomware MORE as America’s next president. 
 
 “I don’t intend on support either of the major party candidates at this point,” the 2012 GOP presidential nominee said Thursday night at the American Friends of The Hebrew University gala, according to The Washington Examiner. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 "I wish we had better choices, and I keep hoping that somehow things will get better, and I just don’t see an easy answer from where we are now.” 
 
 Romney added that he has no interest in launching an independent campaign to offer voters an alternative to Clinton or Trump. 
 
 “No, I’m certainly going to be hoping that we find someone who I have confidence in who becomes the nominee,” he said. "I see way too much demagoguery and populism on both sides of the aisle, and I only hope and aspire we’ll see more greatness. 
 
 “I don’t know what happens when elect somebody to the White House on what they’ll do as opposed to what they’re saying, but I certainly think this is a critical time for freedom, a critical time for America.” 
 
 An aide to Romney on Thursday said that the former Massachusetts governor plans on skipping the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. 
 
 Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush also will not attend the event, where Trump is expected to formally become the party's standard-bearer. 
 
 Clinton, meanwhile, leads Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersOvernight Finance: US economic growth slows in first quarter | Deadline for Trump tariff exemption nears | Scalise offers anti-carbon tax resolution | Banking regulator to retire Scalise offers anti-carbon tax resolution Senate Dems call on FCC chair to hold off on media ownership efforts MORE (I-Vt.) in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination by several hundred delegates. 

 SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney revealed Wednesday who he voted for in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 His wife, Ann Romney. 
 
 "I wrote in the name of a person who I admire deeply, who I think would be an excellent president," the Republican U.S Senate candidate told the Deseret News and KSL editorial boards in response to a question. "I realized it wasn't going to go anywhere, but nonetheless felt that I was putting in a very solid name." 
 
 Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, had not previously spoken publicly about his 2016 ballot, other than to say he wouldn't vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, partly because of the “Access Hollywood” video, or for Democrat Hillary Clinton. 
 
 The former Massachusetts governor faces state lawmaker Mike Kennedy in the race for the Republican Senate nomination. 
 
 Kennedy said after a debate with Romney on Tuesday that he wrote in GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president in 2016. During the debate, Kennedy repeatedly said he stands with Trump and questioned how Romney would work with the president given has past criticism. 
 
 Before the Utah GOP presidential caucus vote in March 2016, Romney urged Republicans in a Facebook post to get behind Cruz because he believed he had the best chance to beat Trump. In the post, he said "Trumpism" had become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia and vulgarity. 
 
 A month earlier, Romney called Trump a "phony" and "fraud" in scathing speech at the University of Utah. 
 
 On Wednesday, he said Washington needs people of "sober judgment," and was asked if Trump is one of those people. 
 
 "What he says sometimes does not communicate a sobriety and stability," Romney said. "I think he has more method to the madness than people expect." 
 
 Despite his harsh criticism of Trump in the past, Romney has said the president's policy agenda has turned out better than he expected. But Romney still has questions about Trump's character. 
 
 "I don't think that he is the role model that I would point to for my grandkids because of his personal style and language," he said. 
 
 Romney listed George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and even a Democrat, Harry Truman, as presidents whose personal style and character he admires and from whom his grandkids could learn. 
 
 The character of a president, he said, has a long-lasting impact on the country. 
 
 "Bill Clinton was a great disappointment for me, and I'm sure for many others," Romney said. 
 
 Even though Clinton did some positive things, his personal character failings have affected generations, he said, citing "our commitment to telling the truth, our acceptance of infidelity. Those things, I think, changed ever so slightly, and I think they have a consequence for society." 
 
 As for Trump, Romney said, "I'm going to let you all make your own judgments in that regard. I've made mine in terms of saying what I think about the role model for my kids and I will speak with the president privately about things that I hope he will do to influence in a positive way the character of the country." 
 
 Romney said he and Trump, who has endorsed Romney in the Senate race, talk every three or four months and that the conversations are friendly. He said he has known Trump socially for a long time, has stayed at Mar-a-Lago when it was Trump's private residence and has dined with his family. 
 
 Now that his niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel, is head of the Republican National Committee, Romney said he has another reason to chat with the president. 
 
 "But I have not offered advice on policy," Romney said.
– Mitt Romney said long before the November 2016 election he wouldn't be casting his ballot for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but the person he did vote for has remained a mystery—until now. "I wrote in the name of a person who I admire deeply, who I think would be an excellent president," he told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards during a Wednesday sit-down. That much-touted person: his wife, Ann Romney. Romney noted he knew his spouse-supporting vote would be futile, but still "felt that I was putting in a very solid name." Ann Romney as her husband's write-in contender isn't a complete surprise: He'd hinted at it early in the summer of 2016. "I will either write in my wife's name, who will be an ideal president, or I will write in the name of a third-party candidate," he said then, per Business Insider.