Donald Trump’s constant overtures to millions of disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters aren’t likely to net him many votes. But that hasn’t stopped him from making more of an effort to win over the most progressive members of the Democratic Party than he is to unify his own.

As Democrats attempted to unite at their convention in Philadelphia this week, Trump has sought to sow further discord among bitter Bernie backers, looking to drive a wedge every time he has stood on a campaign stage with caustic criticism of Sanders and outreach to the candidate’s followers. “He's losing his legacy because he's just sort of giving up. He's all in for Hillary now,” Trump said Monday night at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In Davenport, Iowa, on Thursday afternoon, he slammed Sanders for “selling out to the devil.” And after Hillary Clinton's convention closed Thursday night, Trump's Friday tweeting was full of shots at Sanders and appeals to his supporters.


Earlier Thursday morning, he continued his weeklong Bernie blitz with a new video posted to his Instagram account in which he asserts that he has the toughness and resolve that Sanders is lacking. The video contains clips of Sanders being booed for encouraging his supporters to back Hillary Clinton this week and another from 2015 when he surrendered the stage to a pair of Black Lives Matter activists.

A nativist Republican trying to win the support of the Democratic party’s most progressive members may seem quixotic — and indeed, it’s likely to net Trump few new voters. Ninety percent of Sanders’ supporters are now supporting Clinton, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted before Sanders officially endorsed Clinton. The survey results were released Monday.

But that was never the point. Trump doesn’t need Sanders supporters to come over to his side; he just needs them to sit out in November, or throw their votes to a third party.

And so by continuing to push the Bernie button, Trump isn't just trolling Hillary Clinton; he's forcing her to watch her left flank as the general election begins in earnest and looking to offset problems unifying his own party’s base.

“Better than 80-85 percent of Bernie voters are negative to Trump,” said Peter Hart, a Democratic pollster. “He’s not going to win those voters; the only question is whether they’re going to stay home.”

“Trump's strategy is smart,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. “Even if they don't vote for him, every Sanders vote that doesn't go to Clinton makes Trump's effort one vote easier. And you could even tilt the balance in Iowa, New Hampshire, and that essential state of Ohio.”

Trump’s protectionist stance on free trade and his steadfast opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is at odds with the traditional Republican orthodoxy on the issue — and strangely in alignment with Sanders’ own opposition to the trade deal, which is supported by President Barack Obama, Speaker Paul Ryan and centrists in both parties. And it is his main point of emphasis when appealing to Sanders supporters.

“We have one issue that's very similar, and that's trade,” Trump told about 4,000 supporters at a rally Tuesday night in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “He and I are similar in trade. The difference is I can do something about it. I'm going to bring jobs back to North Carolina.”

If Trump’s argument on trade has any resonance with Sanders backers, it will likely be with older, whiter voters, not the more socially progressive millennials who anointed the 73-year-old socialist a cultural icon and don’t feel the same sort of passion for Clinton’s candidacy.

“The younger Sanders voters are more socially progressive and culturally liberal. They are the activists, and they don’t connect with Trump,” said Bruce Haynes, a GOP strategist in Washington. “The bigger problem for Clinton is probably getting the younger Sanders voters to turn out at all. Surveys show they are less regular, less frequent voters than either Clinton or Trump voters.”

Trump got some help this week from a Clinton ally. On Tuesday, Terry McAuliffe — in a statement that was stunningly deaf to the immediate political implications — told a reporter that Clinton would likely flip-flop on her stated opposition to the TPP and find a way to support the deal once elected president, Trump’s campaign pounced immediately. Top strategist Paul Manafort and Trump himself both tweeted out the POLITICO story reporting on McAuliffe’s comments in an effort to prove to Sanders’ supporters that Clinton’s opposition to TPP, Trump’s own signature policy position, isn’t genuine or deeply felt.

And Sanders himself, who still characterizes his campaign as a “political revolution,” has struggled to persuade some of his most ardent supporters to accept and support Clinton as the nominee. He was booed at an event Monday when he urged his backers to unite behind Clinton. On Tuesday, he tried again.

“It’s easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency,” Sanders said at a California delegation breakfast. “Donald Trump is the worst candidate for president in the modern history of this country.”

Meanwhile, Trump was disparaging Sanders for capitulating to Clinton in an effort to harden the disappointment of the senator’s supporters — and to harness it. "He's losing his legacy because he's just sort of giving up,” Trump said Tuesday night. “He's all in for Hillary now.”

The obstinacy of a loud, dramatic contingent of Sanders loyalists on the first day of the DNC was catnip for television cameras eager to capture scenes of discord. However genuine the resentment among the protesting Sanders supporters, it does not represent an actual willingness among Democratic delegates to consider backing Trump.

“Donald Trump is a racist demagogue who comes from the billionaire class,” said Peter Rickman, a longtime progressive activist and Sanders supporter who led the Wisconsin delegation to Philadelphia. “There’s no way that anyone who believes in Bernie’s agenda" would support Trump. "We need to stop Donald Trump, and you don’t stop Donald Trump with magic. You stop him by voting for Hillary Clinton.”

Most of even the most ardent Sanders backers share that view, according to polling and conversations with Sanders’ supporters.

POLITICO reporters have interviewed more than five dozen Sanders delegates attending the DNC and found none who expressed a willingness to vote for Trump. Many state delegations, like the one from Colorado, a state Sanders won, don’t include anyone considering the GOP nominee. But several of them aren’t yet sold on Clinton either.

“Trump stands for bigotry and hate and corruption," said Georgina MacDonald, a Sanders delegate from Illinois. “At this point, my vote is going to [Green Party nominee] Jill Stein."

Nicole Renee Peters, a Sanders delegate from New Mexico, doesn’t plan to vote for Clinton or Trump and may not vote at all. “The idea that you have to pick the lesser of two evils keeps us stuck in this system,” she said.

Looking to blunt Trump’s efforts to deepen their intraparty divide, Democrats have taken a number of last-minute steps this week to placate the loud faction of Sanders supporters inside the arena, starting with the abrupt resignation and virtual disappearance of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz after leaked emails validated the perception held by Bernie backers that the party boss was in the tank for Clinton. The efforts continued with the quick response Tuesday night from John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, who tweeted: “Love Gov. McAuliffe, but he got this one flat wrong. Hillary opposes TPP BEFORE and AFTER the election. Period. Full stop.”

But many lukewarm Clinton backers don’t have to be convinced of Clinton’s genuine zeal in opposing TPP — because they’re already convinced that Trump shouldn’t be president.

"I've got to think about my neighbors. I live in Ohio; it matters who I vote for,” said Adam Carsons, a Sanders delegate from Columbus. “I wouldn't tell anyone who to vote for, other than I might disown them if they vote for Trump.”

Burgess Everett, Julia Ioffe and Daniel Strauss contributed reporting.