Romney poll bump short-lived
A modest bump in popularity for US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney from this week's Republican Party convention looks to be short-lived, according to new poll.
His Democrat opponent, US president Barack Obama regained a narrow lead yesterday by 44 per cent to 43 per cent over his Republican challenger in the latest daily installment of the four-day rolling Reuters/Ispos poll.
Mr Romney was ahead by one point in Friday's online poll and two points in Thursday's survey as his campaign came under a blaze of media attention at the convention in Tampa, Florida.
In his acceptance speech on Thursday, Mr Romney urged voters to get behind him and help rebuild the economy. His address followed three days of speeches by Republicans, including testimonies from Mr Romney's relatives and friends aimed at improving the image of a candidate who is often seen as stiff or aloof.
"This wasn't a lightning bolt convention," Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said. "Comparatively speaking, this was a more muted convention in general ... So it doesn't surprise me that (the bump in polls) wasn't a great deal bigger."
Post-convention poll bounces are common and typically short-lived, and Mr Obama could see one himself next week after he formally accepts his party's nomination for a second term at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
But with the candidates treading water in a dead-heat race, Ms Clark said she expected polls to remain extremely close all the way to the November 6th vote.
Mr Romney's muted benefit from the convention may be in part because of his decision to unveil his vice-presidential pick, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, weeks before the convention.
The convention was also overshadowed by Hurricane Isaac, which caused the cancellation of Monday's events, as well as a bizarre performance right before Mr Romney's speech of Hollywood star Clint Eastwood, who addressed an imaginary Mr Obama in an empty chair.
The Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll measures sentiment during the two-week convention season by polling over the previous four days.
The survey released yesterday found that of registered voters who have seen, heard or read at least something about the convention, 39 per cent thought it was excellent or good, with nearly as many saying it was average.
Among Republicans, 65 per cent said the convention went well and 31 per cent rated it average.
On Friday, the poll found Mr Romney improving his standing with voters on various favourable characteristics, such as being "a good person" or "tough enough for the job."
Those gains largely ebbed, but Mr Romney continued to rise in the key category of likeability. Some 32 per cent of those surveyed found him likeable, a one-point gain from Friday. Mr Obama's likeability lost one point to 47 per cent.
The two candidates also emerged neck-in-neck in the question of who "has the right values," with Mr Romney at 38 per cent and Mr Obama at 39 per cent. On Monday, Mr Obama led in this category by nine points with 43 percent.
For the survey, 1,505 of US registered voters were interviewed online. The precision of the Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
Reuters
