From what I've read it does have a negative impact if the domain hasn't been continuously registered. I don't know how great the effect is though.
if the domian is dropped but not deleted, then there is nothing wrong using it. however, to gain some benefit out of it, you will need to make sure that the domain you are using has some backlinks, domian name is something you are looking for, and the site you build on it has the relevant theme as before
I dont think it is having any negative impact. May be I am wrong but it is my belief coz i cant find any reason