The economy is the main issue for first time, Gen Z voters who spoke with NBC News at Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh said this afternoon.
Ryan Jones, 21, said he supports Trump’s proposal for no taxes on tips or overtime.
“I’m a big fan of lowering taxes personally, and in high school I worked jobs that I earned money through tips. So that would have been able to help me save a lot more for college, and I think that would have helped me out a lot more in the long run,” he said.
Jones, a student at the University of Pittsburgh, says his friends are split over whom to vote for — a lot of his classmates are not voting for Trump, but his hometown friends in Butler County are backing him.
Kaeli Bennett, 18, dreams of being a homeowner and says housing was more affordable during the Trump administration.
“In the future I want to be able to own a home. And when he was president, the prices were a lot lower, especially for homebuyers. And that is a huge issue for me. I want to be able to own my own home. I want to be able to start a family at an affordable cost,” she said.
Matthew Lonergan, 19, said the difference in the economy under Trump versus Biden is “night and day.”
Biden and Harris “really didn’t do anything but hurt the country, and Trump did nothing but help the country,” he said.
Another reason Lonergan is voting for Trump is that he sees Trump as more aligned with his Catholic faith. “As a Catholic, Jesus Christ is my lord and savior. Donald Trump supports Jesus, and that just goes with that,” he said.
Trump’s rally in Pittsburgh took place across the street from Duquesne University, a Catholic college.
Jenna Pindrock, 20, who is Catholic and describes herself as “pro-life,” said she has Catholic friends who were initially on the fence but then were turned off by Harris when she told anti-abortion-rights protesters “you’re at the wrong rally.”
