Michael W. Traugott is a political scientist and survey methodologist. He is a Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies and Political Science and Research Professor Emeritus in the Center for Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. His main research areas of interest are public opinion and political communication, and he has studied the use of polls in the new media. Currently his research focuses on how members of the public understand and interpret poll results through the process of motivated reasoning. He has served as the president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the World Association for Public Opinion Research, and he has been recognized for distinguished lifetime achievement by both organizations. He has served as a consultant to media organizations and is interviewed frequently about electoral politics and polling issues. Paul J. Lavrakas is a research psychologist, and since 2007 has served as an international methodological research consultant for several universities, not for profit and for-profit companies, and government agencies. He was a tenured Full Professor at Northwestern University (1978–1996) and Ohio State University (1996–2000), and was the founding faculty director of the Northwestern University Survey Lab (1982-1996) and the OSU Center for Survey Research (1996–2000). From 2000–2007 he was Vice President and chief methodologist for Nielsen Media Research. He played a major role in introducing dual frame RDD surveying in the United States, Australia, and Japan. In the past decade, he has helped to develop methods for the creation of probability-based online panels in the U.S. and in Australia. Among his many publications, he is the editor of the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods (Sage, 2008). He has conducted preelection polls and served the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) as its President in 2012–2013, was co-winner of the AAPOR Innovators Award in 2003, received the AAPOR Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement in 2019, and was the co-winner of the 2021 AAPOR Book Award.