The Dem convention tried to blend a blatant play for Republican and Sandernista votes at the same time with the theme radically zigzagging from the Founding Fathers to wealth redistribution, from patriotism to Black Lives Matter. It was an awkward mixture and only about half of it seems to have worked.
Clinton firmed up her Democratic base, but the continued tightness of the race, and the relatively moderate bumps each candidate has gotten, only add to the portrait of a highly partisan election in which most voters' opinions remain fixed. Voters in this study across eleven battleground states had been interviewed previously, and Clinton gained with Democrats who'd been undecided before the convention, plus some other voters who'd been unsure, but virtually no one is vacillating back and forth directly between Trump and Clinton.
Clinton and the Democrats did not entirely find resonance with the mood of the electorate: 40 percent said they liked how the Democrats described the state of things in America today, but 45 percent disliked it, including most independents, many of whom are voting for Donald Trump. Democratic voters, for their part, did strongly like how the convention talked about Bernie Sanders and his supporters, which suggests the rift from the primaries - still visible at times on the convention floor - may have a chance to heal.
Voters said they'd have liked to have heard more about the economy from the Democrats, and most - 54 percent - said they didn't hear enough about changing Washington.
In short, Hillary gained some ground with Democrats who dislike her, which is important, but the play for independent and conservative voters fell flat. Despite Bloomberg, General Allen and Republicans for Hillary, the moment of silence and the 9/11 mentions, it didn't work.