John Holbein is an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Politics, and Education. He studies political participation, political inequality, democratic accountability, political representation, and education policy. His work has been published in American Political Science Review; American Journal of Political Science; Journal of Politics; and Nature Human Behavior (to name a few). His research has been supported by two National Science Foundation grants.

Holbein's book–Making Young Voters: Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action–was published in 2020 by Cambridge University Press. It explores ways to increase perpetually low rates of voter participation among young people.  His work has been covered by outlets such as the Washington Post, Vox, New York Magazine, the Boston Globe, NPR, Bloomberg, Politico, Fast Company, Salon, Business Insider, the 74, VoxEu, and FiveThirtyEight, and he has served as an expert witness in voting rights cases in several states.