The student who answers the door looks a little hungover, and she may well be. It’s late August at East Stroudsburg University, a midsize public college in northeast Pennsylvania, and students are soaking in the final days of summer.

But Kim Allen is undeterred by the girl’s half-opened eyes. A 64-year-old middle school Spanish teacher from New York City, Allen is particularly immune to the sullen stares of youth.

“Hi, my name is Kim,” she says cheerily. “I’m a volunteer with Ground Truth, and we’re here to find out how people are feeling about how things are going in the country. Would you say we’re on the wrong track or the right track?”

The student shrugs a disinterested “I dunno,” but Allen presses on. She asks about her concerns, how likely she is to vote on a scale of 1 to 10, and whether it would be for Republicans or Democrats. On voting, the student ranks herself a 7. On Republicans, an 8.

Ordinarily, that would be Allen’s cue to leave. She’d traveled to East Stroudsburg that Saturday, as she had about a dozen Saturdays before, to help Democrats reclaim a crucial House seat they lost in 2024. For most Democratic groups and campaigns, talking to a Republican voter would seem a waste of time.

But Allen is part of a novel outreach effort attempting to do things differently.

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