WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — With the economy a top issue for many voters, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are heading to swing state North Carolina this week to discuss their plans to bring down prices.

On Wednesday, Trump held a rally focused on the economy in Asheville. Harris is set to unveil her economic policy agenda at an event Friday in Raleigh.

The dueling rallies come days after the release of a new poll from the Financial Times and the University of Michigan showing voters trust Harris slightly more than Trump to handle the nation’s economy, 42% to 41%, respectively.

Harris performed better than President Joe Biden did in the same poll in July when just 35% of voters trusted Biden more than Trump to manage the economy.

Trump rallies in Asheville

Trump’s event at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, which holds just over 2,000 people, was filled and the Asheville Citizen-Times reported people being turned away at the door.

Throughout his speech, Trump ping-ponged between his prepared remarks and familiar attacks — often deviating from the teleprompter in the middle of explaining a new economic promise when something triggered another thought. He ticked through prepared remarks crisply and quickly. The rest was his more wide-ranging style, punctuated with hand gestures and hyperbole.

With increased security following the assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, police designated three protest areas. Only one, a small area in the empty parking lots across from the venue, was close by. Larger protest areas were set up at Prichard Park and Pack Square, some distance away and where demonstrators would be unlikely to interact with Trump supporters.

Trump opened the rally with attacks on Harris, disparaging her work in California. The former president also implied Harris’ nomination was unfair or cheating, even though Biden was never the official nominee for the Democratic party.

The former president also negatively compared San Francisco to North Carolina, though he was speaking in a city known as the San Francisco of the South, whose unofficial motto is “keep Asheville weird.”

Trump blamed Biden and Harris for inflation and comparing it to the economy under his administration, promising to “make America affordable again.” He also questioned why Harris hadn’t taken action to address inflation or prices already in her role as vice president.

He took credit for what he called the best economy in history and claimed he left an economy with no inflation, which has been proven false.

Immigration was another topic, with Trump calling Harris the Biden administration’s “border czar,” a title she did not hold. As vice president, she was given responsibility for addressing foreign influences on immigration but was not charged with managing the border overall.

Trump also launched attacks on Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, claiming he forced Walz to deploy the National Guard against protesters and claiming there would not be a city left if he had not done so.

Energy was another topic, with Trump deriding clean energy and promising to bring back drilling. He also repeated claims that other countries were taking people from mental institutions and prisons and sending them to the U.S., though there is no evidence that any country is releasing people from psychiatric facilities or jails and deliberately sending them to the U.S.

Ending federal taxes on tips

In recent weeks, both candidates have called for eliminating federal taxes on tips to provide some Americans relief from increased costs. Trump first announced the proposal at a rally June 9 in Las Vegas.

In the same city Saturday, Harris told voters she would do the same.

The Trump campaign has since accused Harris of “stealing” the idea.

“She’s making a speech saying there will be no tax on tips — I said that months ago,” Trump told Elon Musk during an interview Monday on X.

Trump spoke at Harrah’s Cherokee Center, an auditorium in downtown Asheville, with his podium flanked by more than a dozen American flags and custom backdrops that read: “No tax on Social Security” and “No tax on tips.”

Republicans had been looking for Trump to focus more on the economy than in the scattershot arguments and attacks he has made on Harris since Democrats elevated her as their presidential nominee.

Twice in the past week, Trump has virtually bypassed such opportunities, first in an hourlong news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, then in a 2 1/2-hour conversation on the social media platform X with Musk.

Trump’s economic plan

Trump has said his economic plan would focus on bringing down energy costs. He argued that reducing gasoline and oil costs would cause the prices of many other goods and services to decrease.

An advocate for increased domestic oil and gas production, Trump often tells supporters he wants to “drill, baby, drill” as he campaigns across the country. The United States is already producing record levels of oil.

The former president has also called for reducing regulations on businesses to help bring prices down.

Harris’ economic plan

Ahead of her remarks Friday, a Harris campaign official told NewsNation she’ll discuss “her plan to lower costs for middle-class families and take on corporate price gouging.”

Harris has not revealed many specifics about her economic policy priorities since her campaign launched last month, but she has repeatedly said she will focus on supporting middle-class Americans.

“Strengthening the middle class will be my defining goal as I am President of the United States,” Harris told supporters Aug. 6 in Philadelphia.

Harris has said reducing costs for Americans is a top priority of hers as well.

“Prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high,” she said at an Aug. 7 rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

She touted her experience as California attorney general, where she “went after price-fixing schemes.”

“I will take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging,” Harris said. “I will take on corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families. I will take on Big Pharma and cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans.”

Differing views on Fed involvement

One disagreement between the candidates is whether the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates, should remain independent of presidential influence. The Fed raised interest rates in 2022 and 2023 to slow spending and cool inflation.

At his Aug. 8 news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he believes presidents should have a “say” in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.

“I feel the president should have at least (a) say in there,” Trump said. “I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman.”

Two days later, Harris told reporters she disagreed.

“The Fed is an independent entity, and as president, I would never interfere in the decisions that the Fed makes,” she said.

NewsNation’s Jackie Koppell, Libbey Dean and The Associated Press contributed to this report.