Michael Traugott

Research Professor, Center for Political Studies
Professor, Communication Studies
Adjunct Professor, Political Science

Professor Traugott studies the mass media and their impact on American politics. This includes research on the use of the media by candidates in their campaigns and its impact on voters, as well as the ways that campaigns are covered and the impact of this coverage on candidates. He has a particular interest in the use of surveys and polls and the way they are used to cover campaigns and elections.

Professor Traugott spent the 2004-05 academic year on sabbatical, working on election-related research, two book projects, and traveling to deliver lectures and seminars. In the fall, he was invited to join the National Research Commission on Elections and Voting of the Social Science Research Council. He co-authored a major report on the American electoral system with several collaborators, as well as a special report on the exit poll controversy. He also continued work on developing an understanding of the impact of new voting technology on voters' attitudes and behavior through a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation, and the first results from the project are now appearing as conference papers.

He completed work on one book manuscript and has started on another major edited volume with Wolfgang Donsbach from the University of Dresden, current president of the International Communication Association. With Paul Lavrakas he finished a monograph on Survey-based Experimental Designs for the Sage series on Quantitative Research Methods that should appear in print by the end of the year. He is co-editing the International Handbook of Public Opinion Research with Donsbach, a project that involves the coordination of contributions from more than 50 authors.

During his sabbatical, Traugott gave guest lectures in Pamplona, Spain; Palmerston North, New Zealand; Budapest, Hungary; Lisbon, Portugal; and Warsaw, Poland. After spending two weeks at the Central European University in Budapest as a Visiting Professor in the fall, he returned on a Fulbright in the spring. He was the co-organizer of the WAPOR Seminar on Survey Quality in Cadenabbia, Italy in summer 2004, and he was elected Vice-President and President-elect of the World Association for Public Opinion Research.