Gallup Polls show no sign of GOP bounce after convention

A series of Gallup polls finds no sign yet that the Republican National Convention provided a bounce in support for presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The contest between President Barack Obama and Romney remained stuck in the days following the convention, according to Gallup daily tracking polls running through Sept. 1.

Party nominees usually receive a bounce in support after national political conventions and the extended case for their campaigns made in the televised proceedings.

Romney’s speech at his party’s convention also received low marks from the public. Only 38% rated his speech good or excellent, the lowest favorable response to any of the eight acceptance speeches that Gallup has tested since Republican Bob Dole was nominated in 1996, according to a poll that the research group released this morning.

Fewer Americans than in previous years said the convention overall made them more likely to support Republican. The convention had a “net impact” of 2 percentage points, which Gallup calculates by subtracting those who say the proceedings made them more likely to vote for the party nominee versus those who said it made them less likely to do so.

The “net impact” for the Republican convention, held last week in Tampa, Fla., was the lowest for any convention of either party on a question Gallup has asked since 1988.

The combined poll results back “the tentative conclusion that the Republican convention did not change the race,” Frank Newport, Gallup’s editor-in-chief, wrote in a blog post.

Gallup’s Sept. 1 daily tracking poll shows the presidential race unchanged at 48% for Obama to 47% for Romney, the same place it has stood since Aug. 28. Before Aug. 28, Romney had been 1 percentage point ahead.

Gallup’s tracking polls are based on an average of seven days of polling data.

Still, an online poll Ipsos conducted for Reuters showed movement toward Romney following the Republican convention. The Ipsos poll, released Sept. 2, showed the race tied at 45% each versus a 4 percentage point advantage for Obama a week earlier.

A Charlotte Observer/Elon University poll conducted during the Republican convention also shows Romney ahead in North Carolina, leading Obama 47% to 43%. Democrats begin their convention in the state tomorrow. Obama carried North Carolina in the 2008 election.

The Republican convention in Tampa captured less public attention than most recent predecessors. Fifty-one percent of Americans said they watched “a great deal” or “some” of the convention, the second-lowest portion for eight party conventions Gallup has tested since 1996.

The Gallup poll on impressions of the convention was taken Aug. 31 through Sept. 1 and has a margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.