Boston 2/5/2008 7:53:46 PM
“Change”, “Reagan” and Other Words Presidential Frontrunners Use Reveal Candidate, Party Focus
A WhiteSmoke survey shows Presidential frontrunners’ choice of words typically confirms voter impressions with a few surprises.
Do the actual words Presidential candidates choose -- such as “change,” “war”, “taxes” or “Reagan” square with voter impressions of their concerns, focus, philosophy and what kind of President they will make?
Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have positioned themselves as agents of “change”, while Republican frontrunners Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney leave no doubt about their admiration of former Republican President Ronald Reagan.
WhiteSmoke, the developer of a powerful English language grammar and spell checker on-line service, put the candidates’ word choice to the test to see if it squared with voter perceptions. Sen. Clinton used “change” 12 times during the debate while Romney and Sen. Obama tied with six mentions of “change” each. Sen. McCain, of whom Romney has stated won’t bring much change to Washington mentioned “change” only twice.
Romney invoked the “Reagan” name 20 times and McCain 12 times, while the Democrats had no mentions, according to WhiteSmoke, which also includes a unique Text Enrichment engine to enhance writing by suggesting synonyms and modifiers.
WhiteSmoke company researchers selected words for the study that relate to chief voter concerns. The team limited the sample to the most recent debates and further narrowed it down by examining only the comments by the four frontrunners, Republicans Sen. McCain and Romney and Democrats Senators Obama and Clinton. The number of words used was not taken into consideration, nor was the fact that the Democrats debated one-on-one.
The Whitesmoke (www.whitesmoke.com) study reveals that health care reform advocate Sen. Clinton leads the pack in mentions of “health care” – 25 times. Romney, who reformed state health care insurance while Governor of Massachusetts, mentioned health care seven times. The two other frontrunners seldom mentioned the term.
Candidates said “America” or “American” 84 times, with Sen. Obama coming in at 32 mentions and Clinton with 25 – McCain and Romney were about evenly split at 15 and 12 mentions respectively.
When it came to the economy and the war in Iraq – Romney who has claimed to be the expert on the economy – used the word the most – 14 times, Sen. McCain four times, Sen. Obama eight and Sen. Clinton two. “War” came up 76 times with Vietnam veteran and former POW Sen. McCain using the word “war” the least -- six times. He also used Iraq the fewest number of times among the leading candidates.
“Immigration,” a hot button word came up 22 times. Romney used immigration only once and he was the only candidate to use the word “amnesty”, a total of three times.
According to Amit Greener, vice president, WhiteSmoke, “Equally remarkable were words candidates never or seldom used during their last debate before the Super Tuesday primaries. Among them, the word ‘values,’ often associated with the Republican Party was mentioned eight times – four apiece by Republican McCain and Democrat Clinton. Likewise, ‘poverty’ and ‘poor,’ often associated with the Democratic Party, came up only four times throughout both debates. The ‘elderly’ were never mentioned.”
While “war” appeared numerous times in transcripts of the debates, “peace” was mentioned only once – by Sen. Clinton. Terror also appears to be falling out of favor as a voter worry with only five mentions across the board. “Security”, however, got 21 mentions shared about evenly among the Presidential hopefuls. Republicans also evenly shared the use of the word “conservative”, while the only Democrat to mention the word was Obama, who said “conservative” once.
WhiteSmoke also examined several previous speeches by the candidates. “The spelling and grammar are impeccable, so if you hope to be President get in the habit of checking your writing and using an effective grammar and spell checkers,” noted Greener.
Of all the words examined, the word “but” came up the most – 149 times. A WhiteSmoke Top Expert who provides users with free help with their writing, said, “Instead of saying ‘but’ when disagreeing, consider synonyms that are less argumentative, such as, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding, or alternatively. Doing so can make the speaker or writer appear far more easy going.” A limited version of the software is available on Facebook.
Several other words are included in the table, including the number of times the candidates mentioned the last names of the other front-running candidates.
About WhiteSmoke
WhiteSmoke Inc. is a world leader in English grammar and writing software solutions. WhiteSmoke software corrects grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and provides text enrichment via innovative, patented technologies. These technologies are the product of years of research into natural language processing, tapping into the complexities of the English language.
WhiteSmoke writing software is available in a range of versions to suit any writing style, from everyday home use through to field-specific business communications. For more information, please visit:
http://www.whitesmoke.com
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