Join Michael in his conversation with John Della Volpe the Director of Polling at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School about his book Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling their Fear and Passion to Save America as well as the results of his September 2024 Harvard Youth Poll.

Fight has been called "the definitive account of America's next great generation,” and provides an in-depth exploration of Gen Z the events that have shaped them, and what it means for America and our future. 

September 11. The war on terror. Hurricane Katrina. The 2008 financial crisis. The housing crisis. The opioid epidemic. Mass school shootings. Climate change. Racial injustice. The whiplash between the election of the first Black president and Donald Trump. COVID-19.

Generation Z (also known as “Zoomers”) — those born from the late 1990s to early 2000s — has been faced with an onslaught of turmoil, destruction, and instability unprecedented in modern history. It shows that they are more stressed, anxious, and depressed than previous generations, a phenomenon John Della Volpe has documented extensively through decades of interviews and meetings with young Americans across the country.

But Gen Z has not buckled under this tremendous weight. On the contrary, they have organized around the issues America has left unsolved, from gun control to racial and environmental justice to economic inequality, becoming more politically engaged than their elders were at their age, and showing a unique willingness to disrupt the status quo.

In Fight, Della Volpe draws on his vast experience to show the largest forces shaping Zoomers’ lives, the issues they care most about, and how they are — despite older Americans’ efforts to label Gen Z as overly sensitive, lazy, and entitled — rising to the unique challenges of their time to take control of their country and our future.

About Our Guest

John Della Volpe is the Director of Polling at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics and the author of Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America (St. Martin's Press, January 2022). Recognized by The Washington Post as a leading authority on global sentiment and influence, particularly among young Americans, John’s work spans the realms of digital and social media. At Harvard, his research focuses on the opinions of young Americans, often in collaboration with the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

In 2008, he was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship, which enabled him to study Millennials across China, Hong Kong, Korea, and North Korea. He later served on the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission on Media. John is also the founder of SocialSphere, a public opinion and analytics company. He serves on the boards of iCatholic Media and the Ad Club of Boston, and he is a member of the Global Alumni Council for Eisenhower Fellowships. A frequent guest on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, John’s insights are regularly featured in U.S. and international media outlets.