The candidates in their own words: A textual analysis of 2016 president primary debates

Weifeng Zhong

AEI Economic Perspectives, 2016

Abstract: In the 2016 election cycle, the two major parties held 20 primary debates, and the candidates spoke hundreds of thousands of words. In this paper, I turn them into "word data" and examine three characteristics of the candidates: (1) Where do the candidates stand on a spectrum of policy positions? (2) How negative are the candidates' political sentiments? (3) How effectively do the candidates' speeches deliver content? This word-data approach makes possible observations that are difficult to discover with conventional methods. For example, I find the political speeches of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appear moderate in policy positions, positive in political sentiments, and effective in delivering content.

Keywords: Hillary Clinton; Presidential Election; Ted Cruz; AEI Economic Perspectives; Presidential debates; Donald Trump; Bernie Sanders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aei:journl:y:2016:id:882015

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