Last week, I posted an article on using tag clouds to visualize the main messages given by Barack Obama and John McCain. The original post focused only on speeches given by the candidates between Monday, October 20 and Sunday, October 26. If you haven’t yet read that post, please do so now. As a follow-up, I have now created tag clouds for the speeches given in the following week. As with the previous post, these images were created using speech transcripts provided on RealClearPolitics.com. By visually highlighting the most frequent words, it is possible to consider the main messages. Here are the images:
Tag Cloud of speeches by Barack Obama, October 27 - November 3
Tag Cloud of speeches by John McCain, October 27 - November 3
Unlike with last week’s post, I am not going to provide a personal analysis of what these tag clouds suggest the key messages are. I am more interested in hearing what you think about the messages in light of these images. Please provide your comments and analysis below. I will be happy to chime in once someone else enters the dialogue.
Credits:
Obama tag cloud created using the following speech transcripts:
- Monday, October 27: One week away from change in America
- Tuesday, October 28: Obama on the stump in Chester, Pennsylvania
- Thursday, October 30: Obama rallies Columbia, Missouri
- Sunday, November 2: Obama campaigns in Columbus
- Monday, November 3: Obama’s remarks in Jacksonville
McCain tag cloud created using the following speech transcripts:
- Monday, October 27: Redistributing wealth vs. creating wealth
- Tuesday, October 28: McCain on the stump in Hershey
- Monday, November 3: McCain’s midnight rally in Miami
Both tag cloud images created at wordle.net
Tags: content analysis, election, mccain, obama, politics, tag cloud
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Just so everyone knows, I am aware that these tag clouds are created using more of Obama’s speeches than those of McCain. I am sorry about this. I am not sure if it’s due to bias on the part of Real Clear Politics (I tend to think not), or if it’s simply because Obama is giving more speeches.