The Democratic National Convention has just ended and in reflection, I was looking at the word chart that we discussed in class. This chart shows the number of times each word was used by a particular party. While the chart does not account for context, it does a pretty good job summarizing the points made at the two conventions.
For example, the Democrats used the word "millionaire" 7 times while the republicans did not use it once. When in context, "millionaire" was used in a negative way, taking a shot at the Republicans for lowering taxes for millionaires. Context aside, this chart is very instrumental.
Many inferences can be made about the chart, but I wanted to talk about a specific few. First, it appears as if many of the words on both sides focus directly on Obama and how he did as president. This is not a surprise; however, it seemed as if the speeches were more reflective as oppose to what a candidate will do once he becomes president.
Some of the words that evidence this on the Republican side are "business", "Obamacare", "fail", "spending", "unemployment", and "debt". All of these words refer to what the Republicans believe Obama did incorrectly as president. The Republicans are not big fans of the new healthcare reform and refer to it as Obamacare more than Medicare because they believe that it is a doing of Obama and will only survive if a democrat stays in office. A lot of the other words surround business because the economic issues in the country. By describing the unemployment rate under Obama as well as the government spending and debt, it may seem like a turn-off. It is very interesting that the Republicans used "fail" so much. This implies that the believe Obama has failed as a president.
On the democratic side, the words that show Obama's successes are "Medicare", "education", "Bin Laden", "middle class", "workers", "seniors", and "women". The Democrats believe that the new Medicare bill was very successful because everyone now has healthcare, even though it may cost hospitals a significant sum of money. The Democrats also mention Bin Laden while the Republicans did not mention his name once because the killing of Bin Laden was a major success. It is not easy killing the number one terrorist. The majority of the other words refer to the normal or ordinary people of the middle class and the same treatment of seniors and women. Obama is a big proponent of supporting the working middle class and by mentioning words that relate to them, he may gain more of their votes.
In summation, it seemed like the conventions significantly focused on how well Obama has performed at president. Now the big question for voters is: Did the Republicans do a better job of explaining how Obama has been a bad president or did the Democrats do a better job of explaining how Obama has succeeded?
Please leave comments about other patterns you noticed in the chart or your stance on who did a better job.
After looking at this word chart, Jeremy, it was very interesting to see how both parties pick and choose what they feel will draw the public to vote for them. For example, I felt the Democrats argued more for the votes of the middle class. They also talked a lot about women, which is quite interesting because they have a huge lead in votes in the polls by women. I find it puzzling that the Republicans did not talk more about women because they knew they were far behind. I felt the Republicans, however, chose to talk about the economy, but more specifically the unemployment rate. They also mentioned "business" very often, which implies their efforts to show the public Romney's business success. Overall, putting both parties aside, I think this election will come down to the economy, as both parties weighed heavily and equally on the issue and their version of the solution.
ReplyDelete