At the National Conventions, the Words They Used

A comparison of how often speakers at the two presidential nominating conventions used different words and phrases, based on an analysis of transcripts from the Federal News Service.
Words favored
by Democrats
Words favored
by Republicans
Number of mentions per 25,000 spoken words
by Democrats and Republicans
Auto Democrats credited President Obama with the recovery of the auto industry after the 2009 bailout, while Republicans left the topic unmentioned.
Women Democrats used the word much more frequently, primarily in reference to women's health and equal pay.
Business Republicans were more likely to talk about businesses, emphasizing Mr. Romney's private-sector experience and plans to improve the economy.
Unemployment Many Republican speakers brought up the still-high unemployment rate and the number of Americans who remain jobless, while Democrats largely avoided the topic.


Excerpts from Democrats
Democrats mentioned various topics
some number of times per 25,000 words

Barack Obama
President of the United States

(Cheers, applause.) So help me. Help me recruit a hundred thousand math and science teachers within 10 years and improve early childhood education.

— what'd Bill Clinton call it? You do the arithmetic. (Laughter, cheers, applause.) You do the math.

You're the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she's ever called home — (cheers, applause)

The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter — she gives me hope. (Cheers, applause.) The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost closed, but kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for his whole town and one of the cars that he built to surprise his wife — he gives me hope.

(Cheers.) And if you share that faith with me, if you share that hope with me, I ask you tonight for your vote.

Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Vice president of the United States

And I say to my fellow Americans: My fellow Americans, four years ago a battered nation turned away from the failed policies of the past and turned to a leader who they knew would lift our nation out of the crisis — a journey — a journey we haven't finished yet.

But what I don't understand, what I don't think he understood, I don't think he understood that saving the automobile worker, saving the industry, what it meant to all of America, not just autoworkers.

Governor Romney — Governor Romney — Governor Romney — Governor Romney looks at the notion of equal pay in terms of a company's bottom line. President Obama — he knows that making sure our daughters get the same pay for the same jobs as our son is every father's bottom line.

Tammy Baldwin
U.S. representative, Wisconsin

(Cheers, applause.) And President Obama is standing with me. But Mitt Romney wants to pass even more tax cuts for those at the very top.

The Wisconsin I know knows that their plan will only bust our budget, not boost our economy. We believe in a level playing field. More than a decade ago the big Wall Street banks came to Congress and asked us to repeal an important law called Glass-Steagall, allowing them to gamble like hedge funds.

Elizabeth Warren
Senate candidate, Massachusetts

And that's how we build the economy of the future, an economy with more jobs and less debt. We root it in fairness, we grow it with opportunity, and we build it together.

(Cheers, applause.) I grew up — I grew up in the Methodist church and taught Sunday school. And one of my favorite passages of scripture is, "In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," Matthew 25:40.

Kamala D. Harris
Attorney general of California

Doing nothing while the middle class is hurting — that's not leadership. Loose regulations and lax enforcement — that's not leadership.

Here's what President Obama did. President Obama won Wall Street reform to prevent any more tax-funded bailouts.

Nancy Pelosi
House minority leader

(Cheers, applause.) The American dream is about freedom. Jobs means freedom for workers to support their families. Working with President Obama, Democrats passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to strengthen the rights of women in the workplace.

When you go to the polls, vote for the American dream. Vote for strong Democratic majorities in the United States Senate, in the House of Representatives.

Tammy Duckworth
Congressional candidate, Illinois

— my choice is to do what my family did when times were hard: roll up our sleeves and get to work. My choice is to do what my crew did for me in a dusty field in Iraq.

God bless our military men and women who are in harm's way today, God bless their families, and always, God bless the United States of America.

Nancy Keenan
Naral Pro-Choice America, president

We believe in family planning because it helps to prevent unintended pregnancy. We believe that a woman considering an abortion should not be forced to have an ultrasound against her will.

We cannot trust Mitt Romney to protect our health. He would repeal "Obamacare," taking away our access to better maternity and prenatal care and the law's near-universal coverage of birth control.

ANGIE FLORES

(Cheers, applause.) I am a young woman with a bright future. President Obama and Vice President Biden know this. They don't want any American student to accept that education is only a luxury or that opportunity is simply for someone else.

John Kerry
U.S. senator, Massachusetts

Some of us — some of us — some of us from a prior war remember coming home was not always easy.

Charlie Crist
Former governor of Florida

And particularly important to me and my state of Florida is the challenge of saving Medicare and Social Security so we can keep our promise to our seniors. (Cheers, applause.) But there are common-sense solutions within our reach, if we only have leaders who are willing and enthusiastic to find common ground.

Eva Longoria
Actress

And that's not what's going to work because America was built by optimists, optimists like my friend Amanda who recently started a small business. And she went to buy her website address, her first and last name, and she found out somebody already owned it but wasn't using it.

Xavier Becerra
U.S. representative, California

(Applause.) Now, maybe Governor Romney has forgotten how we got into the mess that President Obama faced, but we haven't — two wars, tax breaks for the wealthiest, the Wall Street bailout, Katrina.

James E. Clyburn
U.S. representative, South Carolina

So President Obama went to work lighting candles. He promised to bring Osama bin Laden to justice — done. (Cheers, applause.) He promised to end the war in Iraq — done.

Beau Biden
Attorney general of Delaware and son of the vice president

My dad is Joe Biden. A few years ago he wrote a memoir. For his title, he quoted the line from Robert Frost's famous poem.

ZACH WAHLS

Now, supporting a view of marriage as between a man and woman isn't radical.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz
U.S. representative, Florida

But the choice in this election has nothing to do with parties and everything to do with people — people who believe that a senior needs Medicare more than a millionaire needs a tax cut — (cheers, applause) — and people who believe our president's message to the middle class should be: We're on your side, not: You're on your own.

Barney Frank
U.S. representative, Massachusetts

Because we have had millions of private sector jobs created, but our unemployment has been higher than it should be, in part because hundreds and hundreds of thousands of hard-working public employees have been let go by Republican policies.

CAROL BERMAN

Republicans are trying to end Medicare as we know it, but we are not going to let them.

James Rogers
Chief executive of Duke Energy

One of our first steps is to reduce our energy use by 20 percent in Charlotte's central business district. And we're thinking beyond energy.

Bill Clinton
42nd president of the United States

The boom in oil and gas production, combined with greater energy efficiency, has driven oil imports to a near-20- year low and natural gas production to an all-time high.

Jim Sinegal
Co-Founder of Costco

— so that small businesses can compete with the big and so that small businesses can become big, so that breakthrough ideas and hard work are rewarded more than speculation, so that more startups succeed and fewer bubbles burst. These are the investments that business wants.

Bob King
President of the United Auto Workers

(Cheers, applause.) Because of President Obama's moral courage and leadership, America's auto industry is roaring again, leading the American economic recovery.

Austin Ligon
Co-Founder of CarMax Inc.

That's why he has a plan to reduce the deficit, to invest in infrastructure and education, to give tax relief and benefits to average consumers, not the millionaires — because that's what works.

Jack Markell
Governor of Delaware

Your shareholders are teachers, construction workers and hardware store owners. (Cheers, applause.)

JOHANNY ADAMES

He fought to expand the Pell Grants so nearly 10 million young Americans can have that opportunity. Even better, he doubled the (size ?) of Pell Grants so that someone like me can afford tuition and pay for books too.

Barbara A. Mikulski
U.S. senator, Maryland

The 77 cents that women make for every dollar men earn makes a real difference to our familiesfamilies stretching to make every dollar count.

Richard L. Trumka
President of the A.F.L.–C.I.O.

And we will stand with leaders who strengthen and protect Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, not those who plan to cut benefits the working people paid for, earned and are counting on.

Charles E. Schumer
U.S. senator, New York

Today families like the one I grew up in still believe in that American dream. But as President Obama says, it's a make-or-break moment for the middle class.

Tom Steyer
Co-Founder of Advanced Energy Economy

President Obama is making the smart investments we need, and my vote for him is an investment in jobs today, energy security tomorrow and a stronger country for all of our kids.

Patty Murray
U.S. senator, Washington

Struggle and sacrifice, relentless perseverance and investment in our children's potential, that's the story of millions of American families.

Steve Israel
U.S. representative, New York

Mayors who balanced budgets. Police chiefs who lowered crime. Veterans who defended our nation. Even an astronaut.

Thomas M. Menino
Mayor of Boston

(Cheers, applause.) In Boston, we know government isn't the answer or the enemy — it's our partner.

Luis V. Gutierrez
U.S. representative, Illinois

President Obama is protecting immigrants; Mitt Romney wants undocumented immigrants to self-deport. This election will determine whether high school valedictorians, football team captains and student council presidents will be treated with respect or treated like suspects, whether they reach their dreams or whether Mitt Romney turns their dreams into nightmares.

Kathleen Sebelius
U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services

Because if insurers don't spend at least 50 percent of your premium dollars on your health care, you get a refund.

Lincoln Chafee
Governor of Rhode Island

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to return us to the fantasy land of never having to pay for things we buy, such as education, medical research, good roads and clean energy.

Jared Polis
U.S. representative, Colorado

It's why he's fighting to make citizenship a reality for young immigrants who go to college and serve in our military. (Cheers, applause.) It's why he repealed "don't ask, don't tell" so that no person is prevented from serving the country they love because of who they love.

Ken Salazar
U.S. secretary of the Interior

It moves us forward, not backward, forward to fuel-efficient cars, a healthy auto industry and good middle-class jobs, forward to a healthier planet and forward to the new energy frontier and American energy independence.

Carolyn B. Maloney
U.S. representative, New York

If they get sick or become pregnant, they will not lose their health insurance. (Cheers, applause.) And soon, for the very first time, no longer will being a woman be a pre-existing medical condition.

Joyce Beatty
Congressional candidate, Ohio

(Cheers, applause.) We will move America forward on behalf of you, your families and communities, your aspirations.

Charlie Gonzalez
U.S. representative, Texas

President Obama believes in an America where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, where everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share and plays by the same rules. (Applause.)

Nydia Velázquez
U.S. representative, New York

President Obama has walked with our small businesses, our job creators. He knows small businesses are the backbone of our economy.

Bev Perdue
Governor of North Carolina

We must re-elect the president — listen up, we must re-elect the president because he's standing up for middle-class families and growing our economy — an economy that is built to last.

Mary Kay Henry
Service Employees International Union president

Middle-class Americans cannot afford four years of Romney economics. (Applause.) We need a president who fights for us and that's what we have in President Barack Obama.

Due to a large number of mentions, only a sampling of excerpts are shown.


Excerpts from Republicans
Republicans mentioned various topics
some number of times per 25,000 words

Mitt Romney
Presidential nominee

— freedom to build a life and yes, freedom to build a business with their own hands. (Cheers, applause.)

But driving home late from that second job or standing there watching the gas pump hit $50 and still going, when the realtor told you that to sell your house, you'd have to take a big loss, in those moments you knew that this just wasn't right.

So here we stand. Americans have a choice, a decision. To make that choice, you need to know more about me and where I'd lead our country.

Those weren't the easiest of days, many long hours and weekends working, five young sons who seemed to have this need to re-enact a different world war every night. (Laughter.) But if you asked Ann and I what we'd give to break up just one more fight between the boys or wake up in the morning and discover a pile of kids asleep in our room — well, every mom and dad knows the answer to that.

So some of us had this idea that if we really believed our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies; we should bet on ourselves and our — on our advice.

(Cheers, applause.) In the richest country in the history of the world, this Obama economy has crushed the middle class. Family income has fallen by $4,000, but health insurance premiums are higher.

(Mixed boos, cheers, applause.) His trillion-dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and also put our security at greater risk.

It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small business the most. (Cheers, applause.)

And it means that we must rein in the skyrocketing cost of health care by repealing and replacing "Obamacare." (Cheers, applause.)

I'll honor the institution of marriage. (Cheers, applause.) And I will guarantee America's first liberty, the freedom of religion.

Every American was relieved the day President Obama gave the order and Seal Team 6 took out Osama bin Laden. (Cheers, applause.) On another front, every American is less secure today because he has failed to slow Iran's nuclear threat.

Does it fail to find the jobs that are needed for 23 million people and for half the kids graduating from college?

Paul D. Ryan
Vice-presidential nominee

We had help from Medicare, and it was there, just like it's there for my mom today. Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it. A Romney- Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare for my mom's generation, for my generation and for my kids and yours.

And to this day my mom is my role model. (Cheers, applause.) Behind every small business, there's a story worth knowing. All the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salons, hardware stores — these didn't come out of nowhere.

And in our dealings with other nations, a Romney-Ryan administration will speak with confidence and clarity.

They are protecting us right now. We honor them and all of our veterans, and we thank them. (Cheers, applause.) The right that makes all the difference now is the right to choose our own leaders.

Chris Christie
Governor of New Jersey

Tell it to you this way: In the automobile of life, dad was just a passenger. Mom was the driver.

Now, with that job and the GI Bill he put himself through Rutgers University at night to become the first in his family to earn a college degree. (Cheers, applause.)

For — make no mistake about it, everybody — the problems are too big to let the American people lose: the slowest economic recovery in decades; a spiraling, out-of-control deficit; and an education system that's failing to compete in the world.

Nikki Haley
Governor of South Carolina

South Carolina recently passed one of the most innovative illegal immigration laws in the country. What did this president, who has failed to secure our borders and address this issue in any meaningful way, do?

And that's why this governor will not stop fighting until we send him home, back to Chicago, and send Mitt and Ann Romney to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

She's an amazing inspiration for me and for so many women across the country. (Cheers, applause.) Not too long ago I traveled to Michigan to campaign for the Romneys.

TOM STEMBERG

He wanted to come over and talk with the team and spend some time with them, and he told me in very clear terms: Tom, this business is all about the people. But this Obama-Biden campaign, they just don't get it. They will tell you that private equity is focused only on the short term.

That's why this November they will elect Mitt Romney as the next president of the United States.

Jeb Bush
Former governor of Florida

That starts with a strong economy, a smart energy policy, lower deficits and a president who puts America's workers and job creators first.

Of 34 advanced nations in the world, American students rank 17th in science, 25th in math. Only one quarter of high school graduates are ready for their next steps.

Ted Cruz
Senate candidate, Texas

We are all the sons and daughters of those who risked everything for freedom. And each of us has a duty to pass that same liberty on to the next generation.

That, my friends, is change we can believe in. Thank you, and God bless you. (Cheers, applause.)

Brian Sandoval
Governor of Nevada

And like Republicans all across this nation, I chose to make the tough decisions on issues like economic development, education reform and redesigning how state government operates, on job creation and reducing state spending and eliminating red tape. It hasn't been easy, and we're not through it yet.

Now, I've seen Hispanic business owners and families from backgrounds not unlike my own struggle in this economy. I have seen young children from all walks of life begin to wonder if their future holds any hope at all.

Scott Walker
Governor of Wisconsin

The owner told me that he's creating additional jobs in Wisconsin because he likes the way we're moving our state forward, and he's even more committed since the last election.

But because of our reforms, Wisconsin has added thousands of new jobs, and our unemployment rate is down from when I first took office.

John Boehner
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

You know, we begin tonight with a fundamental question: Can we do better? (Cheers.) The answer, in my view, is obvious: You bet we can!

Mitt's jobs plan will build a stronger middle class through energy independence, schools where our kids, not the teachers unions, come first, free trade, the path to a balanced budget and an end to the uncertainty and the tax hikes that threaten small businesses. It's a big job, so we're fortunate that Mitt has chosen his running mate as a leader who is second to none when it comes to rooting out and fixing Washington's worst habits.

Steve King
U.S. representative, Iowa

We're here tonight because Mitt Romney has chosen as his running mate the first real leader of his generation, a man who can help us believe in America again, and his name is Paul Ryan.

From his very first campaign, Paul asked voters directly, hire me, and has since always reminded his constituents, remember, I work for you.

Marco Rubio
U.S. senator, Florida

He tells Americans that they're worse off because others are better off, that rich people got rich by making other people poor. Hope and change has become divide and conquer.

DEREK PARRA

As the opening ceremonies got under way and the flag-bearing athletes and I gathered backstage, we were standing with the Port Authority officers whose job it was to oversee the flag. They began telling us how proud they were of us, that the families of the victims were proud of us, that all the people who lost their lives were proud of us.

Mike Huckabee
Former governor of Arkansas

Let me say to you tonight I care far less as to where Mitt Romney takes his family to church than I do about where he takes this country.

Tim Pawlenty
Former governor of Minnesota

(Laughter, cheers, applause.) Now, our opponents claim to be the party of the middle class, but Democrats don't understand this fundamental point: It's really hard for people to be part of the middle class if they don't have a job.

Luis Fortuño
Governor of Puerto Rico

But they are concerned, worried that Washington will continue to punish them with more taxes, more red tape and more government control. Give them the freedom to grow, and you'll see how many jobs they create.

Pam Bondi
Attorney general of Florida

The court agreed that the Constitution does not allow the federal government to force states to adopt a budget-busting expansion of Medicaid.

John McCain
U.S. senator, Arizona

I trust that Mitt Romney has that faith, and I trust him to lead us. (Cheers, applause.)

Rand Paul
U.S. senator, Kentucky

Mr. President, you say the rich must pay their fair share. But when you seek to punish the rich, the jobs that are lost are those of the poor and the middle class.

Artur Davis
U.S. representative, Alabama

(Cheers.) When you hear the party that glorified Occupy Wall Street blast success, when you hear them minimize the genius of the men and women who make jobs out of nothing, is that what you teach your children about work?

Rick Santorum
Former U.S. senator, Pennsylvania

And we say — and we say that each of us has dignity, and all of us have the right to live the American dream. (Applause.) And we also say that without you — without you, America is not keeping faith with its dream that all men, all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Bob McDonnell
Governor of Virginia

We will lift up and grow the middle class. We will celebrate job creators again. We will restore that great American dream that led my grandfather here from Ireland a hundred years ago.

Mary Fallin
Governor of Oklahoma

Now, President Obama, he wants us to believe that Oklahomans owe that success to the federal government, to the Department of Energy or the EPA or the IRS or maybe even him.

Kelly Ayotte
U.S. senator, New Hampshire

He realized that if he did, he would trigger penalties under "Obamacare," and he couldn't afford it, so he never opened up that restaurant.

Lisa Stickan
Young Republicans chairwoman, Ohio

Household incomes have fallen and debt has risen. We are paying more for health care and getting less choice.

Ranjit (Ricky) Gill
Congressional candidate, California

We are ready again to seize the measure of our ambitions not because the government says we can but because we believe we can.

Keith Rothfus
Congressional candidate, Pennsylvania

There is only one ticket that will save Medicare from bankruptcy, will preserve Medicare for today's seniors and will strengthen Medicare for the future.

Deb Fischer
Senate candidate, Nebraska

And in Nebraska, we have an unemployment rate of only 4 percent. How did we get there?

Bob Buckhorn
Mayor of Tampa

They were cigar rollers, port workers, cattle rustlers. They were the economic engine that powered Tampa Bay.

Due to a large number of mentions, only a sampling of excerpts are shown.