News Analysis: Hillary Clinton's poll numbers likely to get boost after Democratic convention

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is likely to get a bump in the polls as result of the Democratic National Convention, after her Republican rival Donald Trump got ahead of her slightly a week before.

The bounce in the polls is much needed for Clinton team, as the candidate has in recent weeks been dogged by controversy, and the just-concluded convention could put her back on track, experts said.

"I expect her to get a sizable polling bump out of the convention," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.

In recent days, leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee showed that the organization tried to tip the scales in favor of Clinton to win against her opponents -- mainly rival Bernie Sanders, during the primaries.

The scandal has grabbed headlines nationwide and sparked angry protests by Sanders' supporters in the past week outside the convention's venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Before that, Clinton was already criticized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for being "extremely careless" in handling U.S. intelligence secrets.

The FBI was referring to Clinton's use of a personal email account and a private server located in her home -- instead of a secure government email -- to conduct business as former Secretary of State.

But the convention may have helped take some Americans' eyes off those stumbling blocks. The Clinton campaign made an effort to humanize Clinton and make her seem approachable, as Clinton has always struggled with her public image of appearing to be stiff and robotic in speeches or in debates.

One of her secret weapons in this was husband and former President Bill Clinton, who spoke on her behalf this week, waxing nostalgic about how the couple first met while attending Yale Law School around 40 years ago.

"Clinton made great progress in humanizing herself and presenting herself as a change agent. Both were things she needed to do in order to overcome negative perceptions about her candidacy," West said.

Americans in this election are looking for a candidate who can turn around the lackluster economy, which has not fully recovered from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Clinton was able to unify the party and contrast her vision for the future against that of Trump by presenting "a positive and optimistic view of America's future" that was very different from Trump's speech about American despair and decline, West said.

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that Clinton is likely to see a bump in the polls after this week' s Democratic convention.

He said that Thursday night's acceptance speech by Clinton confirmed the impression that she has the experience and temperament to handle this job.

This is likely to help her against Trump, who is viewed by critics as hot-headed and not having the right temperament to lead the country.

Clinton's predicted bounce in the polls is expected to help her overcome the uptick for Trump after the July 18-21 Republican National Convention in Ohio, which put him ahead of Clinton by a hair, experts said. Enditem