John Della Volpe to Deliver 13th Annual Culver Lecture

John Della Volpe, director of polling for the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics and leading expert on youth political opinions, will deliver the 13th Annual Culver Lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Hubbell Hall, Kent Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Della Volpe has led the Harvard Institute’s polling initiatives on understanding American youth since 2000. His best-selling book, FIGHT, How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America, has been called “the definitive account of America’s next great generation” and “a great read with a tremendous amount of learning for anyone in the business of marketing, selling, or otherwise engaging with the most exciting generation in decades.” 

“For more than 20 years, John Della Volpe has been a leading expert on young Americans’ political views and habits of civic engagement,” said Seth Andersen, director of the John C. Culver Public Policy Center at Simpson College. “His survey research and focus group work are indispensable to understanding how young people relate to our political system and how their attitudes on a broad range of policies have evolved.

Della Volpe is a former colleague of the late Senator John C. Culver, who served as interim director of the Harvard Institute of Politics in 2010. During that time, Culver and Della Volpe worked together to build a network of colleges and universities with politics and policy centers under the eventual banner of the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement.

Having served as pollster and adviser to President Biden’s 2020 campaign, Della Volpe is now an NBC and MSNBC political contributor, and regularly appears on “Morning Joe” and the “11th Hour “ with Stephanie Ruhle. His essays are published in the New York Times and Washington Post, and his JDV on Gen Z+ is on Substack.

A virtual viewing option is available for those unable to attend the Culver Lecture in person. Register for the virtual option here. No registration is required for the in-person lecture.