Washington, Aug. 22 (Reuters): President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign is lowering expectations of a big bounce in opinion polls from the Republican nominating convention in New York next week.

Campaign advisers said they expect Bush to gain at most a jump of three or four percentage points from the national attention he and the Republican Party will get during the four-day televised event.

The Bush campaign watched with interest as Democrat John Kerry got only a delayed bounce of up to five or six points from his nominating convention in Boston last month. They decided it was a reflection of a divided electorate that has left few undecided voters from which to get a traditional bump. Bush, as the incumbent, will at most get two-thirds of the bounce that Kerry received, they said.

“We’re realistic about the political environment and realise that this is going to be a very close election,” said campaign spokesperson Terry Holt. The Republican challenge in New York is to rally the party faithful to turn out in droves on election day November 2 while reaching out to swing voters in as many as 18 battleground states.

Fierce anti-Kerry rhetoric that would energise the conservative base might turn off the undecideds. “Bush needs to convince the country that he deserves another four years as the commander-in-chief,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed.

“There will be some Kerry-bashing but it shouldn’t be in prime time. The goal of this convention is to persuade undecided voters that Bush is the man and you don’t want to waste any precious time off-message.”

Many of the biggest names of the Republican Party will give speeches. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain will pay tribute to the “courage of a nation” at a time when it is about to mark the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Other speakers include Bush’s wife Laura, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Bush will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday, September 2, and political analysts said he needs to offer a vision as to how he will run the country if given a second four-year term.

“I think it would be useful to him to have a little forward thrust,” said presidential scholar Stephen Hess. “That was not what his opponent did at his convention. ”