MNA NAWAZ: Author Soman Chainani is best known for his hit young adult series "The School for Good and Evil," which went on to become a hugely popular movie on Netflix.

Chainani's latest book, "Young World," is a political thriller about a teenager who becomes president of the United States.

I spoke to Chainani for the latest episode of our PBS News podcast "Settle In" and we discussed the political realities for young people in America today.

Here's an excerpt of that conversation.

We have an 18-year mark for when you can cast ballots in this country.

Other countries have revisited this, right?

SOMAN CHAINANI, Author, "Young World": Yes.

Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: In recent years, you have seen a number of countries in Europe and I think some in South America, I think Australia is considering it, lowering the voting age to 16 in a lot of these places.

Is that the kind of thing you would like to see happen here?

SOMAN CHAINANI: No.

I think it's the wrong solution, because, to me, it's about getting to run for president.

That to me is the more important thing than lowering the voting age to 16, because lowering the age to 16, it just makes a big gap between the 16-year-old and the average age.

The median age in the House is 58 and in the Senate 65.

So, lowering it from 18 to 16 just creates more of this kind of feeling of alienation, right?

Like, I think there was an NPR poll that came out that said 70 percent of young Americans 18 to 29 don't feel like they have anyone in politics that represents them.

And so, to me, it's more about allowing young people to fantasize about that leadership, because, when you're 18, think about all the things you can do.

You can take out a credit card, a mortgage, you can get married, you can vote, you can fight for your country, you can die for your country, but then you can't, like, ask your country in a democracy if you can lead it, right?

And so we allow -- we're getting to the point with life expectancy where 100-year-olds are going to be in the Senate, in the House, and potentially the presidency.

And yet we can't have an 18-year-old who's allowed to vote also run.

It doesn't make sense.

But then we rely on the 18-to-34s to energize the base and fill the rallies and volunteer and canvass and make the memes and content.

Like, they're running the campaigns.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

SOMAN CHAINANI: I think when I went to see - - I was in New York the day Zohran won the Democratic primary.

And to see all the teenagers in the street and the way it felt like the book, it felt like the book.

It was the first time I felt like the revolting youth were real.

And yet Mamdani can't run for president for other reasons.

But he also would be age-gated from the presidency, which to me is ridiculous, because the two most powerful political forces we have had in the last 10 to 15 years were Zohran Mamdani and Charlie Kirk.

Both would be age-gated from the presidency.

If either one was allowed to run, you would see all the young people in this country come off the sidelines.

AMNA NAWAZ: You think more young people would vote for younger people?

SOMAN CHAINANI: Absolutely.

And it's when I go into schools and talk to kids, like we do this sort of simulation with some test questions as to what you would do if you were president.

And without fail, it becomes clear who in that group would run and then everybody's supporting them.

And you also see who they would pick as a -- it's just natural.

There's always going to -- not all young people should be president.

But... AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you for clarifying.

(LAUGHTER) SOMAN CHAINANI: Not all young -- OK, but I will say, it's funny because I have gotten the question, do you actually think a teenager should be president, right?

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

SOMAN CHAINANI: But then I'm also thinking, I don't know if the 70- and 80-year-olds are crushing it.

You know what I mean?

So.. AMNA NAWAZ: Do the teenagers you talk to, do they believe the teenagers should be able to run for the highest office in the land?

SOMAN CHAINANI: There's always one who do -- yes, they do believe it should be.

AMNA NAWAZ: They do, that they -- yes.

SOMAN CHAINANI: Not necessarily them.

But there's always one who thinks they could do it.

And I think the one who could do it and having that conviction then creates this energy of, well, the other people being like, well, maybe I could run for office at my school.

Maybe I could run for school board.

Maybe I could run for town council.

So this idea of, if you just open up the presidency, I think you supercharge all the downstream races to young people.

And, essentially, I just want this upswell of young people.

And I also think it takes an outside voice to be able to say it who is not young, because if it was somebody in that teenage or 18-to-22-year-old space, no one would take them seriously.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you can watch that full episode of "Settle In" on our YouTube page or wherever you get your podcasts.