Former President Donald Trump said he’s not sure the economy is the nation’s most important factor at a rally Wednesday in Asheville, North Carolina, staying true to the theme.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, took the stage Wednesday at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville for a “last-minute” rally after his campaign first contacted the city for the Aug. 8 rally. The demonstration focused on issues such as the economy. However, in the opening minutes, Trump said he wasn’t sure the economy was the biggest challenge facing the country.
“Today we are going to communicate about a topic,” he said after a 15-minute intervention. “They say it’s the most vital issue, I’m not sure if that’s true, but they say it’s the most vital issue. ” Issue. Inflation is the most important issue, but it is part of the economy.
At the beginning of his speech, Trump said the economy is a very vital issue, but added that “crime” and “the border” were also at the top of the list.
“A lot of other people are very devastated by what happened with inflation and everything else,” he said. “It’s very vital. They say that it is the most important issue. I think the crime is there, I think the border is there, personally. We have many vital issues because our country is a third global nation. “
A recent Gallup poll that assessed the “most vital problem” facing the United States found that only 33% of Americans believe the economy deserves the most sensible place.
Although 76% of Americans cited non-economic issues as their biggest concern, that figure is 23% higher than in November 2020, when Trump last ran for office. This figure is also higher than ever during Trump’s first term.
In addition, a Morning Consult poll conducted Aug. 9-11 found that 78 percent of respondents believed the economy was a number one election issue. Only 18% of respondents said they had heard positive news about the economy during the previous week, and 42% reported negative comments.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns’ email addresses for comment.
After his opening remarks, Trump told the roughly 2,400 people in the crowd that if he won the November election against Democratic rival Kamala Harris, he would “make United States affordable again,” a pun on his slogan “Make United States Great. “Again. “
“The American dream is dead,” he said at one point. “We don’t hear about the American dream anymore, it’s dead. “
Trump went on to blame “radical liberal policies,” the “horrible inflation” that has “decimated the middle class” and “drained the finances” of millions of American families. He then promised that incomes would “skyrocket,” that savings would “increase. “,” and that other young people could regain their homes if he returned to power.
A recent poll conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business found that voters accept as true that Democratic candidate Harris has more views on the economy than Trump, the Republican nominee, for the first time in nearly a year.
The poll found that 41% of respondents believe Trump will be better at managing the economy, while 42% believe Harris would be better, seven points higher than President Joe Biden’s numbers in a July poll.
Update 8/14/24, 5:18 p. m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.
Anna Skinner is a senior reporter for Newsweek founded in Indianapolis. It aims to report on weather, the environment and climate, but also reports on other topics for the national press team. He has extensively covered weather update and natural disasters. Anna joined Newsweek in 2022 from Current Publishing, a local weekly in central Indiana where she worked as an editor. He was a finalist in 2021 for the Indy’s Best award.
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