Visualizing McCain’s and Obama’s speeches with tag clouds

In these last two weeks before the US elections, I thought it would be interesting to analyze the respective messages being given by Barack Obama and John Mccain. Through an analysis of their actual words, taken from speech transcripts over the past 7 days, a visual representation of each candidate’s main ideas can be generated. Using only those speeches given by the candidates between Monday, October 20 and Sunday, October 26 (limited as well to those with transcripts available at Real Clear Politics), the following tag cloud visualizations have been created:

Tag Cloud of speeches by John McCain, October 20 - October 26

Tag Cloud of speeches by Barack Obama, October 20 - October 26

Based on these visualizations of the words spoken by the candidates themselves, what do you think their main messages were in this second-to-last week before the election? The key messages I infer from these visualizations are as follows:

John McCain’s key message:
We “need” to “fight” “Senator Obama” for the sake of our “country,” “America.” “Taxes” are important and should be “cut” “now” in order to “create” “new” “jobs” and more “wealth.” — The most commonly used words here are interesting: clearly McCain is focusing in on “Senator Obama,” emphasizing the issues of “taxes,” “wealth,” “jobs,” and his plan to “fight” Obama on these matters. He mentions “people” equally as much as “government,” and the people he most mentions are “Senator Obama” and some guy named “Joe.” While “families” are not mentioned, “children” are. The word “plumber” appears slightly more often than “Biden,” suggesting that there is more emphasis on the now-famous “Joe the Plumber,” though McCain’s primary talking point seems to be Barack Obama. In light of the remaining conservative and center-right (more right than center) concern over Obama’s credentials, background and policy positions, this focus on Obama may be the best route for McCain to take as he is basically framing this election as a referendum on Barack Obama. If voters find themselves concerned with the prospect of an Obama presidency, they will likely be invigorated by McCain’s promise to “fight” against him rather than because of any specific policy positions.

Barack Obama’s key message:
“America” “need(s)” a “new” “President” “now.” We “need” to “change” our “country,” and we “need” “new” “jobs.” It is the “right” “time” for “change,” and we can do this “together.” — The most commonly used words here are also interesting: Obama mentions “America” and “American” about as much as McCain, though “need,” “jobs,” “change,” and “now” appear more frequently in his speeches. Obama uses the word “create” much less frequently than McCain does, and the larger context of these speeches should be consulted to see what this means. While McCain talks a lot about “business” and “businesses,” these terms are seldom hear in Obama’s speeches; instead, he chooses the term “companies.” Obama does not mention “children,” as McCain does, but he talks about “families,” which are absent from McCain’s speeches. “McCain” is mentioned much less in Obama’s speeches than Obama appears in those of McCain, but it is interesting to note that Obama talks about “Bush” almost as much as he does “McCain.” His opponent is not the primary talking point for Obama; instead, the emphasis is on “America,” “jobs,” the “economy,” and “change.” These talking points serve to boost Obama above the fray of personal politics, and they show that he is framing his argument on really big issue points, rather than specific details. The specifics are drowned out by generalities, though these generalities likely appeal to the broader population of voters.

It would be nice to see both candidates speak in more detail about their policies and what they would actually do in office. Instead, we see Obama offering strong speeches on broad themes that are designed to appeal to his massive crowds, without providing enough specifics; while McCain is also foregoing specific policy proposals to appeal to his largely anti-Obama audience.

Are you at all surprised by the key words these candidates been putting forth in their speeches? Any comments or analysis will be appreciated.

Credits:
McCain Tag Cloud created using the following speech transcripts:

• Monday, October 20: McCain’s Speech in Belton, Missouri
• Wednesday, October 22: McCain’s Speech in Goffstown, New Hampshire
• Friday, October 24: McCain’s Economic Remarks in Denver

Obama Tag Cloud created using the following speech transcripts:

• Monday, October 20: Obama’s Speech in Tampa, Florida
• Tuesday, October 21: Obama’s Speech on Economic Competitiveness
• Wednesday, October 22: Obama’s Statement on National Security
• Thursday, October 23: Obama’s Economic Speech in Indianapolis
• Sunday, October 26: Obama’s Rallies Enormous Crowd in Denver

Both tag cloud images created at wordle.net

Tags: content analysis, election, mccain, obama, politics, tag cloud