the newly minted Harris walls ticket appears to be making a seismic shift in the presidential election a new NPR PBS news Marist poll finds Democratic Presidential nominee kamla Harris is leaping ahead of former president Donald Trump among independent voters jumping up nine points with that group 53 to 44% that's after being down 14 points with Independence when she launched her campaign just two weeks ago now black voters white women with college degrees and women who identify as political Independents are fueling her rise she's also improved with white voters overall according to the poll in early July Trump was beating President Biden by four points with that same group the Democratic party says there's also been a surge of voter registrations and enthusiasm overall and on Monday in Bridgewater a national genz Democratic group called tour to save democracy held a rally of about 200 people talking about the importance of young voters in the 2024 election the event was headlined by Congress members Andy Kim Mikey Cheryl and the seventh District's Democratic nominee Sue Altman the group is on a bus tour traveling to the 15 congressional districts that they've identified as some of the Republican held districts they think Dems have a best chance of flipping blue but any assumption that most young people here identify more closely with the Democratic Party would be wrong there's a large contingency of jenz Republicans who are also making inroads this election cycle our senior political correspondent David Cruz caught up with them the nation's electorate appears ready to engage now as a suddenly energized Democratic party tries to put the old Obama Biden Coalition back together behind kamla Harris and Tim Waltz and a big part of that Coalition is young voters while Democrats have been hitting the trail with youthful down ticket candidates young Republicans say they are making inroads into this key voting block Sean Denning chairs the Ocean County young Republicans the big push from a young Republican perspective is is getting away from the age because conservative themes and conservative ideals they transcend all age groups you could be young you could be old and you know it doesn't really matter you know limited government freedom the freedom to be who you are um and to determine your own destiny I think that's really a Timeless you know point of view Republican assemblyman Brian Bergen at 46 still a self-described young Republican says he meets a lot of young GOP peers less activists and more professionals career-minded who have been reluctant to get involved because as is the case with Democrats as well they see the paths to advancement shut down sometimes there's a lot of people who are older that kind of clog up the pipeline um and it can be discouraging if you're new uh young and excited but there's nothing nowhere for you to go and someone who's going to be there for 30 years why would you get involved Bergen says the challenge is to engage voters Beyond divisive partisan rhetoric abortion access for instance in New Jersey says young Republican Federation of New Jersey Treasurer Joe Miller aged 27 young voters especially here in Jersey don't see that as an issue New Jersey Republicans are a little more moderate they are a little can work alongside with those sies the ey but I think with issues like abortion everything individuals my age are seeing more that they want to be able to just not have the government involved as much not have the government um be able to make decisions for them Republicans have been leading Democrats in terms of new registrations which could be a reflection of the lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden who's no longer at the top of the ticket though Republican Senate candidate Curtis basaw says young people are not the monolith that Democrats would lead you to believe they are there's a registration uh Drive happening on the Republican side that is outpacing Democrats significantly that's a trend that no one can deny in this cycle uh Young people aren't uh asking me about the fact that I'm a gay married man or talking to me about uh social issues they're focused on the fact that we're an outsider a business person that's created a thousand jobs over 35 years to use an old Democratic talking point it's the economy stupid and Republicans say that while Democrats talk about the potential of eroding rights and other social issues young voters are more worried about their economic future also it may come as a surprise to most of us but in terms of total combined age the Republican ticket is actually younger than the Democratic ticket 119 to 118 for whatever that's worth I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news