‘92 REPUBLICAN CONVENTION : Reagan Returns, Faces Difficult Role : Endorsement: Many predict that nostalgia for the former President will not help Bush. His public image has declined since he left office, poll finds.

There will be one more curtain call tonight for The Great Communicator, The Gipper, the party patriarch and icon--the onetime political savior of President Bush.

Political pros envisage moist eyes, sustained cheers and warm nostalgia when Ronald Reagan addresses the Republican Convention and reminds the gloomy delegates of happier, more prosperous times for the presently not-so Grand Old Party.

But many also predict that the 81-year-old former President’s legendary charm will not radiate to Bush and help the beleaguered incumbent win back either the so-called Reagan Democrats--who were key to the last three GOP presidential victories--or disaffected Republicans.

“I fully expect him to make a great speech and cause people to feel very nostalgic about the good ol’ days, but I don’t think any of that gets transferred to Bush,” said Ed Rollins, who ran Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign and was co-manager of Ross Perot’s recently-aborted independent presidential bid.

Rollins added: “He’s the past and voters are looking to the future. That’s what this election is all about. Time has passed. And unfortunately, the image of Reagan has been tarnished a little bit over the years.”

A nationwide survey conducted last week by The Times Poll provided strong evidence to prove Rollins’ point.

The American electorate’s overall impression of Reagan has steadily declined since he left office in January, 1989, and currently, according to the survey, is almost evenly divided between voters who view him favorably (46%) and unfavorably (48%). In fact, voters have a much higher regard for Democrat Jimmy Carter, the man Reagan ousted from the Oval Office in 1980.

The poll found that 63% of the voters have a favorable impression of Carter and only 29% view him unfavorably.

Since leaving office, Reagan has been somewhat of a recluse, playing golf occasionally with friends and traveling with his wife, Nancy, but making few public speeches and granting almost no media interviews.

“People felt very comfortable seeing him in the White House on a daily basis, but it’s out of sight, out of mind,” Rollins said. By contrast, Carter has kept visible by promoting privately-built housing for low-income families.

According to The Times Poll, only 24% of voters think that “the United States is better off today because of what Ronald Reagan did as President,” while 40% said the country is “worse off.”

Also, 77% ranked Reagan as no better than an average President; of this group, 66% said they voted for his reelection in 1984.

And, more to the point of Reagan’s appointed task this week, 83% said that his endorsement of Bush “won’t have much effect” on their vote this November.

There has been speculation that Reagan might be persuasive with the angry, anti-Establishment voters who were attracted to Perot.

“I don’t think there’s anybody better able to talk to Perot people than Ronald Reagan or Ross Perot,” said Sal Russo, a campaign consultant and former Reagan aide who this year served as a Perot adviser.

But The Times Poll found that Perot’s supporters generally are no more favorably disposed toward Reagan than the rest of the electorate.

There was a minority view, however, that Reagan could help Bush bring dissidents back into the fold.

“I think he still has it,” said Ken Khachigian, a former Reagan speech writer and currently the campaign manager for Bruce Herschensohn, a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate from California.

Referring to the millions of working-class people whom Reagan attracted, Khachigian added: “We still call them Reagan Democrats. He created a constituency that in politics is still given a formal name. It’s still a constituency. We just have to get them back.”

But Washington-based political analyst William Schneider said “the Reagan Democrats have soured on him because of the economy. His economic turnaround has deteriorated. Now what Reagan has to do is try to remind them about what they didn’t like about the Democrats.”

On the positive side, Schneider said that “people remember Reagan as a man who did what he was elected to do. He curbed inflation and restored the nation’s military security--though at a price, creating a mountain of debt and other problems.”

Marty Wilson, Bush’s California campaign manager, said that even if Reagan cannot sway many ordinary voters to vote for the President, “he’s got a tremendous capability to rally the (GOP) troops. For them, he is a larger-than-life figure.”

And Lorelei Kinder, a longtime party activist and Reagan booster from San Diego, said that “I don’t know whether he can move the voters, but he can move the troops. And they need to be moved. They need to get emotionally involved. Intellectually involved is one thing, but emotionally is another.”

Today, a few hundred California Republicans plan to get emotionally involved with Reagan one more time, braving the Houston humidity and heat to stage a rally for their hero as he arrives at the airport. Then they will settle into the Astrodome for what for them may well be the highlight of the convention.

Times Assistant Poll Director Susan Pinkus contributed to this story.