Romney’s speech was rated 'excellent' or 'good' by 38 percent of respondents. Poll: Romney speech has low impact

Americans scored Mitt Romney’s GOP convention speech the lowest since Bob Dole’s acceptance speech in 1996, according to a Gallup Poll released Monday.

Following the Republican National Convention in Tampa, 40 percent of voters said that they were more likely to support Mitt Romney for president, compared with 38 percent who were less likely — a net impact of +2.


( PHOTOS: Scenes from the Republican National Convention)

This is lowest net impact for a convention going back to 1984. By comparison, the 2008 GOP convention featuring Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was +5, and that year’s Democratic convention nominating Barack Obama was +14.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech received the lowest marks since Bob Dole’s in 1996: 38 percent of respondents said that Romney’s speech was “excellent” or “good.”

That figure is lower than McCain’s in 2008 (47 percent), Obama’s in that same year (58 percent), Bush’s in 2004 (49 percent) and Kerry’s that same year (52 percent).

That said, immediate reactions to the conventions and the nominated candidates’ speeches do not always match up with the eventual election victors.

( Also on POLITICO: No silver tongue, but Romney gets job done)

“Americans’ immediate reactions to the Republican convention do not by themselves predict who is going to win in November,” notes Gallup.

The poll was conducted Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 with a sample of 1,045 and a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.