I was in graduate school with Atwater in the mid-70s, but didn't really know him. In the late 1930s a German Jew named Max Heller arrived in Greenville SC with 70 cents in his pocket (every member of his family who remained behind died during the war) and went to work in a textile factory. He ended up owning the factory and making a fortune and became very active in philanthropy and his community. He served several terms as Mayor of Greenville and was very popular, and was considered a shoo-in when he began running for the Congressional seat in 1978. A young Republican House member, Carroll Campbell (who had achieved notoriety by leading a march from Greenville to the state capital in Columbia to oppose school busing) ran against him and Atwater ran his first major campaign. It is considered by many to be the first instance of push polling.
It worked like this. You would get a phone call from an 'independent' polling agency asking who you planned to vote for. If it was Campbell they thanked you for you time and hung up. But if you indicated you were planning to vote for Heller they began asking a series of questions. One was, "How important is your belief in Jesus Christ in your daily life?" Bob Jones University is in Greenville, but the district had not elected a Republican since Reconstruction. If, like most people, you replied that your Christian faith was important to you the caller would act like he was going off script and whisper, "Well, you know Mr Heller is Jewish, and they don't believe in Jesus."
Campbell's victory was considered a major upset, and he became a two-term governor eight years later.
On his death bed shortly after his 40th birthday, dying a truly gruesome death from brain cancer, Atwater apologized and said he was truly sorry that he had done that. Heller met with him, forgave him and prayed with him. A story of two men from opposite ends of the moral spectrum.
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