President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters are motivated by their prejudices, not economic concerns, social scientists contend. Will Democrats stop trying to win their votes?

During the life of his podcast, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has worried one topic more than others: How can the Democratic Party attract the young men tilting toward President Donald Trump? The query has taken Newsom, an odds-on 2028 presidential contender, into polarizing, even satirized territory, criticizing trans athletes with conservative influencer Charlie Kirk and platforming — rather than challenging — MAGA provocateurs Steve Bannon and Michael Savage.

While a couple of polls — including this month’s Berkeley IGS survey showing a majority of Californians think the governor cares more about a presidential run than his current job — suggest “This Is Gavin Newsom” is hurting its host’s popularity, it probably won’t win over any Trump fans either, says political sociologist David N. Smith.

It goes something like this: Trump’s biggest supporters are motivated by bigotry and want him to hurt the people they dislike.

“A lot of people find it really hard to believe that people would really want what Trump represents,” said Smith, who began researching authoritarianism as a sociology graduate student more than 40 years ago. “My experience is the hard core of people who support Trump election after election is they really mean it. They support him because of what he says and does, not in spite of it.”