On July 21, 2024, when President Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, to take the Democratic ticket, the presidential race entirely and irrevocably changed.

Since that day, a lot has happened in politics. The national conventions for both parties drew major media attention, Kamala Harris’s choice of Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, as her vice presidential pick filled the Democratic ticket and, most notably, polls completely flipped.

Before Biden dropped out, former President Trump was ahead by approximately six percentage points which was a significant lead in what had been expected to be a close race. Overall, the odds were not in Biden’s favor, and the likelihood that he would win was decreasing daily. Everything seemed lined up exactly as it should be for Trump to retake the White House.

Then Harris entered the race.

Vice President Harris gave a significant sigh of relief to Democrats bracing for another Trump presidency and the political consequences of this scenario.

Harris entering the race has completely changed the entire dynamic of how it could play out. With a candidate who many voters see as more capable and energetic than either President Biden or former President Trump, a Democratic victory is panning out to be more likely than with Biden, and Harris has brought a positive agenda of building more housing and protecting reproductive rights.

As of September 18, 2024, Harris was ahead by 3.3 points, which is a significant win for the Democratic party, especially considering how less than two months ago, Trump was ahead by 6 points.

Arguably, the most significant factor in Biden’s suffering was his age. After the disastrous debate in late June, which inadvertently led to his dropping out, he was seen as incoherent and unable to articulate information fully. Harris brought in a different perspective, youth, energy and a pledge for opportunity.

Now that the Democrats have a candidate nearly two decades younger than Trump, the focus has shifted to what policies the Republicans support.

Harris mainly has worked towards shifting the discussions towards the positions held by Trump, along with the previously stated plans of his Vice Presidential pick, JD Vance, to ban abortion nationwide for any reason. Harris has also worked to move the discussion toward unpopular ideas in the Heritage Foundation Project 2025.

For voters in North Carolina, in addition to being a presidential swing state, congressional, senate and even local races are important to voters with issues such as climate policy, healthcare costs and even roads are seen as important.

The race between Democratic Attorney General, Josh Stein, and Republican Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson, is perhaps the most interesting.

So far in this race, polling indicates that Stein could win by up to 14 points, which could easily be a wipeout for the Republicans.

One of the reasons that this could potentially be the case is because Robinson made antisemitic comments in the past, alienating  Stein, who is Jewish, and his supporters.

At the Community School of Davidson (CSD), what is most relevant to young voters and what they think are similar issues. Polling does know that young voters care more about their priorities than the candidates, and priorities lead to votes. Some of these priorities include gun control, housing costs, and the cost of higher education.

For example, senior, Holt Grier (‘25), said, “I’d say gun control, affordable healthcare, and the economy in terms of making sure things are cheap”  are what matters to him.

Senior, Ben Gallagher (‘25), cares about education but needs more research on the candidates. He said, “I don’t really follow politics a lot, so I plan to research and find out what their stances are on things that are important to me, such as education, and to vote based on this.”

With many CSD seniors and even some juniors voting in the upcoming election for the first time, and Gen-Z votes mattering more than ever, especially as the most diverse generation in the history of our country, national and state level candidates are doing their best to win votes.

So, as young people go to vote, especially in a presidential election which did an about face less than two months ago, it is worth being aware of how perspectives affect polls. For young people, it is worth paying attention to polling numbers so you can be informed on where our country is going.