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Kellyanne Conway Explains Why Trump Connects With Voters While Newsom Doesn’t

Kellyanne Conway Explains Why Trump Connects With Voters While Newsom Doesn't (Screenshot/Fox News)

Kellyanne Conway said Friday that President Donald Trump connects with voters in ways Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom does not.

Newsom had The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro on his podcast “This Is Gavin Newsom” during a Thursday episode. Conway said on “Jesse Watters Primetime” that Newsom’s media strategy tries to lecture conservative figures while masking shifting positions that voters easily detect.

“I guess Gavin Newsom wasn’t invited on Ben Shapiro’s podcast, so he figured I’ll invite him on mine, and I’ll let him school and rule me, which is what happened. Jesse, this would be a brilliant strategy to get to the White House, except we have cameras and recording devices,” Conway told host Jesse Watters. “So we know right away if you’ve changed your mind and your fundamental position from last decade, last year, last month, last week, in this case. And it’s not a smart strategy because the road to the White House doesn’t run through people speaking their mind, not changing their mind.”

Conway contrasted that approach with Trump’s and said the president built trust by repeating clear priorities.

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“I think Donald Trump showed us how to do that. You have to be authentic. Authenticity is also consistency. It means that you’re principled and you keep saying the thing over, same thing over and over again so that repetition becomes reiteration, becomes what voters associate back to you,” Conway added. “And they say, ‘Oh, you’re the guy who wants to build the wall, cut my taxes, peace through strength. You’re the guy who’s going to take on Russia and China and Iran.'”

Newsom said in October 2025 that he would weigh a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. He kept his plans vague up until that point, when a correspondent noted his increased national activity during a South Carolina visit and suggested his behavior resembled that of a potential presidential candidate.

Conway said Newsom may have the profile to survive a Democratic primary but lacks the record to win a general election.

“That’s not apt to change because of the forum in which you are. So look, there’s a world in which I can see Gavin Newsom winning the Democratic primary. Sure. There’s probably enough of a vote out there for the swagger and the good looks and just the bigness of being the governor of California,” Conway said. “But how do you win the general election when you have 12% of the nation’s population, but 28% to 29% of it’s homeless? You have the highest unemployment rate in the country. Your chief of water had no water when the fires hit a year ago.”

Newsom claimed a single-digit decline in homelessness during his final year in office, citing figures that critics say failed to capture large portions of the state’s unhoused population. California has nonetheless retained the highest homeless total in the nation throughout his tenure.

When he assumed office in 2019, he pledged a sweeping statewide effort to address the crisis. He framed homelessness as a moral and economic failure. His administration said Jan. 8 that data submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed an estimated 9% drop in the unsheltered population.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News)