There are myriad ways to answer that question. We chose to stay above the opining fray and analyzed each speech based on linguistic features using our Copy Optimizer.

As a refresher, the Copy Optimizer analyzes parts of speech by tagging each word and using algorithms to ‘dimensionalize” parts of speech on two continuums,

• Involving vs. Informational
• Narrative vs. Non-Narrative

We know if you want to increase response (donations and other human behavior) then the more Involving and Narrative the better.   One could argue political speeches should strive to do the same.  Connect with the audience and have it feel like a conversation (Involving) and use the power of narrative to create a connection and make the listener want to hear more.

So, how did they do?  Biden’s was better overall. But we couldn’t stop there.  We went back 40 years scoring all the eventual Presidential winners’ speeches (plus Hillary Clinton’s).

And the best overall (as blended, average score)?

Hillary Clinton’s.  Followed by Obama’s in 2012 and Bill Clinton’s in 92.   Clinton in ’92 was the only one to have a positive Narrative score.

The worst overall?  Trump in 2016.  In fact, the average Democratic score is much higher than the average Republican one.

(click image below for best view and back arrow to come back to post)

A few other fun facts.

• There is a slight to moderate negative correlation between speech length and the quality of the Involving and Narrative dimensions. That said, Hillary’s speech was longer than the average.
• The longest (in word count, which may not correspond to length of talk time)? Bill Clinton’s in ’96 by a wide margin.  Shortest?  Joe Biden’s in 2020.
• Who used the biggest/longest words (on average)? Trump in 2016.  He also loves nouns compared to the others.  Both of these are negative linguistic features on the Involving dimension.  More nouns and longer words make it feel dense.
• Shortest words? George H.W.Bush in ’88 followed by Biden and Clinton in 92.
• Republicans love nouns. Their noun usage (a negative linguistic feature) far outstrips Democrats.
• All speech writers seem to love FANBOYS. This is the use of For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So to tie together two independent clauses.   Almost all the speeches index very high on FANBOYs.  This is how we tend to talk, making this a positive linguistic feature.
• Lots of first person pronouns, which isn’t surprising. The only speech that didn’t index well above average on first-person pronouns was Reagan in ’84.
• Obama loved using possibility modals – can, may, should, could. Both of his speeches indexed well above average (for all genres) and all the other speeches indexed below average.

Kevin