Massachusetts Democrats got more of  a confidence boost out of their party conventions than Republicans did: that's the major finding from Red and Blue Commonwealth surveys sent out to Massachusetts Republicans and Democrats earlier this week.

An overwhelming 88% of influential Massachusetts Democrats surveyed in Patch polls said they feel "more strongly" that their candidate is going to win the presidential election in November. Only 56% of Republicans surveyed responded similarly.

Republicans also seemed less confident about whether their presidential candidate had gotten into the details of their plans: 45% of them were neutral or disagreed with the statement that "In his convention speech, Romney provided specifics on his goals for the next four year and how he would achieve them."

26% of influential Democrats polled felt similarly about Obama's speech.

The majority of respondents in each survey said they strongly agree their candidate has shown how he is different from the competition.

Highlights and Lowlights

A majority of "Red Commonwealth" poll responders said Ann Romney's speech was the highlight of the Republican National Convention.

On the Democratic side, nearly all respondents said Bill Clinton's speech was the highlight of the DNC.

"Clinton's speech reminding us of the depth of the recession and that the Obama administration was confronted with the worse [sic] recession since the great depression that was the result of the previous administration's policies," one political influencer said.

Notably, five of the influential Republicans sang the praises of Clint Eastwood's speech, which was widely mocked in mainstream media and on late night television. Eight Republican repondents cited the speech as "the one misstep" of the convention.

"As much as he deserves huge accolades, the speech by Clint Eastwood fell flat. He really tried, but age and frailty were his enemy, much like we saw with Dick Clark in his final New Year's Eve appearances," one influencer wrote.

Democrats said the kerfuffle over whether to keep God in the party platform, was the major misstep at the Democratic National Convention.

Red and Blue Commonwealth Survey

Our surveys are not a scientific, random sample of any larger population, but rather an effort to listen to a group of influential local Republican and Democratic activists, party leaders, candidates and elected officials in Massachusetts. All of these individuals have agreed to participate in Massachusetts’ Patch surveys, although not all responded to this story’s questions.

Patch will be conducting Red Commonwealth and Blue Commonwealth surveys throughout the 2012 election season in hopes of determining the true sentiment of conservatives and progressives on the ground in Massachusetts. If you are an activist, party leader or elected official and would like to take part in periodic surveys that last just a few minutes, please contact Associate Regional Editor Dann DeMaina at Danield@patch.com