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IIt was a college town, so the crowd was inevitably younger than usual. But the sheer number of inexperienced college and high school kids at Donald Trump’s rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania on Monday night was impressive.

They stood in line for hours, wearing MAGA hats of every color. Many of them wore T-shirts with Trump’s most famous image on the front – his fist raised in the air and the American flag waving in the background in the seconds after the first attempt on his life a few weeks ago.

“What could motivate so many young people to see a former president,” I asked as I waited in a line that stretched to the parking lot?

“The economy,” said Brodie Lyons, a 22-year-old law student, as he waited to enter the arena at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“Look at what it was like four years ago – practically everything has doubled (in price),” he added.

These concerns were shared by other classmates who tried to get into the packed arena with me, but failed. In fact, so many people wanted to hear Trump’s speech on Monday night that hundreds were turned away.

“I’m scared for my future. I want my future economy to thrive,” said Kelsey Moyer, a 20-year-old student at Indiana University. “Both presidents have served four years each, and you can see the difference in the country.”

Young people have traditionally been a reliable Democratic voting bloc, and polls show Harris has a big lead among young people across the country—for example, she’s 31 percentage points ahead among likely voters ages 18 to 35, according to a new poll from the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.

But Trump has made inroads among this demographic – especially among young men. The same poll found Harris leading among young women, 70 percent to 23 percent, but only 53 percent to 36 percent among men. That’s a significant gap, especially when it comes in a key swing state like Pennsylvania. If those razor-thin margins are narrowed, either candidate could walk away with victory.

It is important to consider what issues really resonate with young people and what the prevailing message suggests. Although the media has been dominated by images of students protesting against the war in Gaza over the past year, it is repeatedly claimed that the economy is the most important issue for young people aged 18 to 30 – many of whom will soon enter the job market.

According to an NBC poll released earlier this month, inflation and the cost of living are the most important issues, far ahead of threats to democracy, abortion or health care.

Indiana County, where the rally took place, is an area where Republicans vote reliably—about 68 percent of students voted for Trump in 2020. And unlike many other colleges, it is located in a rural area of ​​Pennsylvania, where there are significantly more Trump signs than those for Kamala Harris.

“I’ve never seen so many young people at a rally,” said Scott Presler, a conservative activist who founded a voter registration PAC. “I was impressed. And we’re registering everyone to vote.”

In the arena, Trump’s speech revolved around his usual talking points and pointed insults against his enemies. He spoke at length about his personal obsession: the late-night cable TV shows and his feuds with the various hosts.

“If they don’t like me, I don’t like them, okay? Sounds childish,” he said. “That’s the way it is. Call it a personality defect.”

However, his comments on the economic situation received the greatest applause.

“As president, I will keep Kamala’s greedy hands out of your pockets and we will pass gigantic tax cuts,” he told the crowd in the packed 5,000-person arena. “I have given you the largest tax cuts in history and we will go even further.”

Trump has repeatedly made false claims about the economy during his presidency and under his successor Joe Biden. The average annual GDP growth rate under Trump was 2.3 percent. Under Biden, it is around 2.2 percent.

Harris said she wants to lower consumer prices by enforcing a federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries. She also announced she would introduce rules to prevent large companies from making “excessive profits” by “unfairly” exploiting consumers.

Trump, meanwhile, said he would seek a tariff of 10 to 20 percent on all imports from all countries – and according to CNN, he would even impose a tariff of 60 percent on Chinese imports. He would also increase energy production to reduce costs.

There are strong supporters for both candidates across Pennsylvania, but here in the Indiana city, it was clear that Trump had successfully gotten his message across – and won over a demographic that Republicans have otherwise struggled to win over.