Poll: Clint, not Mitt, was highlight

Clint Eastwood’s strange freewheeling speech to the Republican National Convention overshadowed Mitt Romney’s big moment, according to a poll released Wednesday,showing 20 percent of television viewers named the actor’s empty chair-aided performance as a convention highlight.

Only 17 percent of viewers said the GOP presidential nominee’s acceptance speech was a highlight, according to the Pew Research Center poll.


A tenth of viewers said Ann Romney’s address on the convention’s first night was a high point, and nine percent said the same of vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s speech. Other speakers all received less than 3 percent in the poll. A fifth of viewers said the convention had no highlight.

( PHOTOS: Scenes from the GOP convention 2012)

The poll confirms what television ratings have already shown: Fewer Americans watched this year’s convention than watched in 2008. A majority — 61 percent — said they watched little or none of the convention, compared with 44 percent four years ago, when 50 percent of viewers named then-vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech as a convention highlight, and 17 percent named Ariz. Sen. John McCain’s address.

The Pew poll of 1,008 adults was conducted between August 31 and September 3. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.