Obituary: Election Pollster Michael Mokrzycki

Long-time Associated Press pollster Michael Mokrzycki died suddenly on Friday evening of what is thought to have been a heart attack. He was 52 years old.

Mike was born in 1962 in Queens, New York City, and after graduating from the Holy Cross High School in Queens and Boston University, went on to study survey research at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. He then joined the Associated Press, where he initially worked for the paper's New England bureau in Maine and New Hampshire, and following a spell on the general desk in New York, he joined AP's election polling team and founded the AP Polling Unit. This division focused on coverage of election surveys, and enforced standards for reporting them, and during his time with the broadcaster he trained and managed teams as large as 60 reporters and editors nationwide, to analyze exit poll data.

After 24 years at AP, he set up his own opinion research agency Mokrzycki Survey Research Services, offering non-partisan news/public affairs surveys and methodologies such as exit polls, dual-frame cell/landline sampling and probability-based online polling. His clients included the Pew Research Center, the Washington Post and ABC News, and he also served as Manager of Election Polling at NBC News. In the latter role, he led a team of survey analysts who worked alongside producers on exit poll stories and developed graphics for live broadcast on election nights - including for the 2014 midterms and 2012 US presidential primaries.

He was an active member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and most recently served as Chair of its Heritage and Archives Committees. Jill Gambon, Mike's wife of 21 years, said that he had loved working with the data and finding the 'story within the numbers'.

Mokrzycki is survived by his wife, two teenage sons and a large extended family. His funeral mass will take place tomorrow at 9am at St Mary's Church, 25 North Rd., Chelmsford, MA, and his family will host a celebration of his life in the spring. Donations can be made to the Warren J Mitofsky Fund at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research; University of Connecticut, Homer Babbidge Library, 369 Fairfield Way, Unit 1164, Storrs, CT 06269-1164; MercyFirst (the New York child care agency from which Mike was adopted) 525 Convent Road, Syosset, NY 11791; or any preferred charity.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.