During the turbulence of this year, the one thing on people’s minds is the 2020 U.S. federal election. Turnout is assumed to be high, the world is in one of the biggest pandemics in human history, and the economy is in shambles. All these signs point to many believing that this is the most existential election of their lives. However, one of the most important signs to notice during this election and several previous elections is the RNC and DNC convention. How will this affect the race?

What Is A Political Convention?

A political convention is a stage set up by both parties to officially nominate the candidate of their voter’s wishes or by the parties’ choice. For example, the DNC convention that occurred this year officially nominated Democratic Candidate for President, Joe Biden, after he secured the amount of delegates needed during the Democratic Primary to get the nomination. The conventions are designed to excite the bases of the political parties. This means that the voters who are solid democrats and republicans are excited to hear from their eventual nominee that has a chance to win in the upcoming November election.

What Is Different About These Conventions? 

While a regular political convention would have a massive crowd and stage for the presidential candidates to tell their constituents to go to the polling booth, this year all the conventions were virtual due to the impact of the infamous Covid-19. This means that there is no live audience and the only audience that the people get to hear from is behind a computer screen.

Impact on Presidential Polling Performance in the Past:

During the past political conventions both nominees usually have a huge poll boost. During the 2016 election, both presidential nominees got a boost from the national convention. For example, after the Republican National Convention in 2016, Donald Trump led the first time nationally in the Presidential Race for a temporary amount of the time according to the RCP averages. The lead slipped away from Trump because the week later, the DNC convention took place which gave Hillary Clinton a boost in the polls. This is due to both political parties knowing that they need to excite the base at their conventions, and when they do excite their audience, it gives them a boost in the polls. 

What Happened at These Conventions:

Both the DNC and the RNC national conventions were put on virtual meetings that were either pre recorded or during a virtual meeting. Both nominees presented their case to become president during a speech, and Joe Biden confirmed that his vice presidential nominee was Kamala Harris. These conventions had a variety of different speakers from both political parties including Micheal Bloomberg for the Democrats and Nikki Haley for the Republicans.

How the Election Stands Current After These Conventions:

As of right now, it does seem that the Democratic Party did not have a great major poll boost after these conventions and neither did the Republican Party. They did affect the excitement from both political parties, but currently the Trump Presidency is in track to lose this November. Trump has been consistently behind Joe Biden in the polls, and Biden is at a good position by being around 50%