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Donald J. Trump did not receive a convention bounce; nada, zilch, nothing!
Usually, a presidential candidate can expect to receive a bounce in the polls coming out of their national nominating convention. But there was nary a blip for Trump following the conclusion of his first Republican Convention.
Any bounce Trump may have received would have been short lived as the Democratic National Committee’s nominating convention will gear up in a few days. Trump should be happy without any bounce. After all his convention got off to a rocky start when his wife Melania misstepped on opening night. She delivered several lines, nearly verbatim, from Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech at the Democratic National Committee convention.
Then on the third night of the convention, Ted Cruz, one of 16 contenders who traded insults with Trump during the primary, addressed the convention. He failed to endorse Trump. Instead, Cruz told Republicans to vote their conscience. He was booed from the stage. Cruz’s speech all but ensured no bounce for Trump.
Then on the closing night, Trump gave a lackluster speech. He pandered to the fears of his supporters. No upward movement there.
Within 24 hours of the close of the Republican convention, Democrat Hillary Clinton, wasted little time in taking the steam out of what little chance Trump had to resurrect a bounce for his candidacy, she announced former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as her pick for Vice President.
Suddenly, the narrative has shifted from the Republican convention to Clinton’s VP pick. She pushed her campaign right into the middle of Trump’s after convention glow.
On the Sunday talk shows Clinton will get good marks for making a solid VP choice, while Trump will get a hall pass that gets him to the next round simply because his convention did not have any more glitches than it did.
Next week Clinton will have center stage. This will give her an opportunity to gain bounce of her own.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.