With just 31 days to go until Americans vote, polls show Trump and Kamala Harris in a tight race in Pennsylvania – a hotly contested battleground state.
Data from the New York Times and Siena, for example, shows the two nearly deadlocked in a tie, 49% to 48% in Harris’s favour.
In dozens of interviews with Trump supporters at the rally, most identified the economy – particularly inflation – as their primary concerns ahead of the election.
“We’re not being taken care of. People can’t afford food. They can barely afford gas [petrol],” said Jessenia Anderson, a Pennsylvania voter who was at the rally wearing a red “‘Latinas for Trump’ T-shirt. “I have a family, but I find myself making cheaper [meals], buying cheaper things.”
Others – such as rapper Sean Moon, a Tennessee voter – pointed to the US-Mexico border and immigration as the main reasons they support the former president.
“That’s an existential threat for this country,” said Mr Moon, the son of a North Korean refugee who said the event in Butler was his 15th consecutive Trump rally.
“There are people coming in without being vetted. They tell untruths and get rewarded for it. That’s not doing anything for North Carolina, or for Maui,” he added, a reference to Hurricane Helene and last year’s wildfires in Hawaii.
