Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, visited Rockingham County Fairgrounds to hold a rally on Oct. 5. As a part of the crowd, I learned more about Trump supporters than about Pence.

Leading up to Pence’s arrival, there was much anticipation from the crowd. Nearly everyone was holding up a ‘Make America Great Again’ sign. Amongst the crowd, there was much chatter of the vice presidential debate that occurred the night before. Many of them were dissatisfied with the amount of times Tim Kaine had interrupted Pence.

Deafening screams erupted when Pence finally arrived. Pence covered everything from the debate to the military. Much of it consisted of insults to Hillary Clinton, and the rest of Obama’s administration for their actions in the last eight years. To this, hecklers would yell, “Hillary for prison!”

I went around and asked people at the rally why they were voting for Donald Trump, and the number one answer that I received was, “the economy.” I had thought it would be more about deportation or picking a conservative supreme court judge, but it was not. Many of these people truly believed that Trump can bring jobs to America and eliminate the national debt.

What these people don’t understand is that unemployment is on the verge of being too low. If it gets much lower, it will cause wage-based inflation, while Trump has claimed that the unemployment rate is upwards of 42%. This false number is used to make people think America is in horrible conditions and appeal to people that have lost their jobs. The 42% actually represents the percentage of Americans that are not working. This includes students, stay at home parents and retirees. The true definition of an unemployed individual is someone who is looking for work, but does not have a job. The real unemployment rate of America is 4.9% (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

“The change in America is what we need. America is in a terrible condition. My job moved to Malaysia… we were a manufacturer of industrial air conditioners,” a supporter said.

Trump has also said that he would cut government spending to get rid of the debt, which is something that resonated throughout the crowd, but part of his plan is to defund schools and Planned Parenthoods. Many inner-city schools are already struggling with their current funding. Look at Detroit schools for example, where mold and mildew are growing all over some schools, and they can’t do anything about it due to lack of funding.

Although nearly everyone there was a Trump supporter, he was often times not their first choice. Many of the people at the event were Ted Cruz supporters, but after he lost, they filed in behind Trump.

“We started out supporting the surgeon, Carson. Ben Carson was our top guy, but when he fell out, then we went towards Cruz or Rubio. Those were all top contenders, but as it narrowed on down, we ultimately said, ‘Okay, Trump’s the man. That is who we are going to support,’” Dave Riedel said.