Research Note

Comparing Traditional Presidential Rhetoric: Trump Versus Biden

Bibliographic Data

ID6414985
AuthorsRebecca Eissler (0000-0002-5832-7693, San Francisco State University), Annelise Russell (0000-0002-8417-1709, University of Kentucky, corresponding author), Sean M Theriault (0000-0001-5163-858X, The University of Texas at Austin)
Year2024
Volume53
Issue1
Pages80-85
Publication date2024-08-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Politics Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1532673x241276413
OpenAlexW4401905582
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

Even though they both held the same office, Donald Trump and Joe Biden could not have presented themselves more differently. Biden presented himself as the restorer of tradition after Trump was the disruptor. In this research note, we examine seven sets of speeches that hold constant either the timing or the setting to see if their rhetoric contrasted as much as the way they presented themselves. We find that the words and emotions that they invoked were not nearly as systematically distinct from each other as we expected. We argue that this result demonstrates that the power of the presidency as an institution is sufficiently constraining that even the most unorthodox candidate’s rhetoric mirrors that of a traditionalist. When we do uncover some distinctions between them, those that exist are, for the most part, consistent with our expectations

Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presidential campaign · Presidential system · Rhetoric · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Public Administration · Rhetoric and Communication Studies