Split ticket voters have largely disappeared, voters are voting for party, which means lesser known challengers are getting a boost and upsets to even well-funded, relatively popular incumbent party Members of Congress are possible.

Bill McInturff

William "Bill" McInturff is a Republican pollster, the co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, and, along with Peter D. Hart, the lead pollster for the NBC News/Wall Street Journal polling series for the past decade. He was the lead pollster for John McCain in his 2008 bid for the office of United States President. He has built Public Opinion Strategies into the largest Republican polling operation, representing 19 American Senators and over 50 Congressmen. His work includes testing the Harry and Louise commercials that were run against the Clinton health care plan of 1993. During a Q&A session on 18 October 2013 on CSPAN Mr. McInturff explained why a negative campaigning works against the healthcare law: "The way our brains work, if you're starting at a very weak base, it's easier to hear negative information that reinforces what you believe in a way that pushes it off the cliff than it is to hear so much new positive information that you suddenly change your opinion.

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