The past two decades of politics in Washington have seen increased partisanship, prolonged stalemates, and numerous scandals. For today's teenagers and young adults, years of ineffective and inefficient political leadership have completely eroded any sense that politicians or government have the ability to do good or effect positive change. Worse, the mean-spirited, dysfunctional political system that has come to characterize American politics has turned young people off to the idea of running for office. With more than 500,000 elected positions in the United States, what will happen when this generation is expected to take the reins of political power? Through an original, national survey of more than 4,000 high school and college students, as well as more than 100 in-depth interviews, Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox find that young Americans feel completely alienated from contemporary politics and express little ambition or aspiration to run for office in the future. The overwhelming majority see nothing particularly noble about those currently in office, viewing most as dishonest, self-interested, and disinterested in helping their constituents. These young people want to improve their communities and enact change in the world; but they don't think politics is the way to achieve these goals. In fact, they look disdainfully upon the prospects of growing up to be a mayor, governor, senator, or even president of the United States. Running from Office explores young people's opinions about contemporary politics and their political ambition (or lack of it). The book paints a political profile of the next generation that should sound alarm bells about the long-term, deeply embedded damage contemporary politics has wrought on U.S. democracy and its youngest citizens.  As disheartening as their conclusions sound, Lawless and Fox end with practical suggestions for how new technologies, national service programs, and well-strategized public service campaigns could generate political ambition in young people. Today's high school and college students care deeply about improving the future, and it's not too late to ensure that they view running for office as an effective way to do so.

Running from Office: Why Young Americans are Turned Off to Politics

Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics

American Politics: A Field Guide

Located between the Pacific Ocean and downtown Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive university offering 60 major programs, 55 minor undergraduate degrees and programs. The Graduate Division offers 39 master’s degree programs and one education doctorate, one juris doctorate and 10 credential programs. 
 
Founded in 1911, LMU is ranked third in “Best Regional Universities (West)” by U.S. News and World Report. LMU is the largest Jesuit Catholic university for undergraduates on the West Coast, with more than 6,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students. The state-of-the-art The William H. Hannon Library rates among the 20 best in the country according to The Princeton Review’s guide to “The Best 378 Colleges,” 2014. Bloomberg Businessweek ranks LMU sixth in the nation and third in the West in its 2013 Part-Time MBA rankings.

Loyola Marymount University

Richard Fox teaches in the areas of U.S. Congress, elections, and media and politics. His research, which has been funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on political ambition, electoral behavior, and gender politics. He is co-author of the new U.S. government text American Politics: A Field Guide (Norton, 2023). He is the co-editor of Gender and Elections: Shaping the Future of American Politics, 5th edition (Cambridge University Press, 2021)). He is also the co-author of Women, Men, and U.S. Politics: 10 Big Questions (Norton 2017) Running from Office: Why Young Americans Are Turned Off to Politics (Oxford University Press, 2015), It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Tabloid Justice: The Criminal Justice System in the Age of Media Frenzy, 2nd edition (Lynne Rienner, 2007). His work has appeared in journals including the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, American Journal of Political Science, Political Psychology, PS, and Politics & Gender. He has also published op-eds in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. After graduating from Claremont McKenna College, he earned his M.A. and Ph.d from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Richard Fox

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University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

Claremont McKenna College

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