Melissa Deckman (she/her) is the CEO of PRRI and a political scientist who studies the impact of gender, religion, and age on public opinion and political behavior.
Deckman is the author of The Politics of Gen Z, which tells the story of Gen Z’s growing political participation, and Tea Party Women (NYU Press: 2016), which examined the role of women in conservative politics. Her first book, School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics (Georgetown University Press: 2004) won the American Political Science Association’s Hu Morken Award for best book on religion and politics. Columbia University Press will publish her latest book, The Politics of Gen Z: How the Youngest Voters Will Shape Our Democracy this September.
The author of more than two dozen scholarly peer-reviewed articles, Deckman’s commentary and research about politics has appeared in The New York Times, MSNBC, The Washington Post, CNN, The Hill, Vice News, The Wall Street Journal, 538 , and Politico among other outlets.
Prior to joining PRRI, Deckman served as the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and Chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College, where she taught courses on American politics and research methods. Dedicated to promoting leadership opportunities for young women, she was the co-founder of Training Ms. President, a Maryland-based, non-partisan program that encouraged young women to consider running for political office. She is proud to have conducted research for IGNITE, a leading non-profit organization that builds political ambition in young women across the country.
Deckman received her Ph.D. in Political Science from American University. A first-generation college student, she received her bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she graduated class valedictorian.
