{"id":90372,"date":"2008-09-15T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2008-09-15T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2008\/09\/15\/language\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:16:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:16:26","slug":"language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2008\/09\/15\/language\/","title":{"rendered":"Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the technology, what is it the two candidates are trying to project about themselves online? <\/p>\n\n

To find out, PEJ combed through the text of the most universal and permanent sections of the sites\u2014candidate biographies, issues and speeches. <\/p>\n\n

In general, we found that Obama tends to stress domestic policy and the economy, while McCain focuses broadly on national security and his experience in the military and government. <\/p>\n\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n

The Most Common Keywords (Minus Speeches)<\/h4>\n\n

[1]<\/p>\n\n\n

A reference to Obama\u2019s brief Senate career is the No. 2 term in the biography and issues sections (\u201cSenator\u201d 15 times and \u201cSenate\u201d 10, second only to \u201cAmerica.\u201d The site refers to Obama as \u201cSenator Obama\u201d (14 times).<\/p>\n\n

McCain\u2019s Web site, by contrast, refers to him as \u201cSenator McCain\u201d just 6 times. Instead, the site refers to the candidate as \u201cJohn McCain\u201d far more often\u2014a total of 45 times. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cChange We Can Believe In\u201d is the mantra of the Obama campaign, but the word \u201cchange\u201d does not often appear inside the content pages. It appears at the top of every page as a quotation from Obama\u2019s stump speech. But it was not among the 20 most frequently used terms in our language search of biography and issues. <\/p>\n\n

Instead, the word shows up as one of the most-used words of McCain\u2019s site (the site employs it six times). Two of the instances refer to the need to change the political culture in Washington, two refer to climate change, and the other two refer to his support for changing the course of Iraq War policy to include additional troops. <\/p>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

The Obama Web site makes a special effort to appeal to rural voters. The Web site includes an entire issue section to the concerns of American farmers. The Web site also employs the word \u201crural\u201d across different issue sections to stress common interests among urban and rural Americans. For example, in laying out his education plan, the Obama site reads \u201cObama believes that we must equip poor and struggling districts, both rural and urban, with the support and resources they need to provide disadvantaged students with an opportunity to reach their full potential.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\u201cGovernment\u201d is one of the McCain Web site\u2019s most-employed words. The references cluster around two themes\u2014eliminating government waste and its size and reforming government in Washington to serve the public interest.<\/p>\n\n

The Obama campaign uses the word \u201cpolitical\u201d in two ways\u2014to reinforce Obama\u2019s political experience, and to repeat his pledges to end the \u201cpolitically charged\u201d nature of Washington. <\/p>\n\n

The McCain Web site indicates the perceived success of \u201cthe surge\u201d in its use of the word \u201cIraq.\u201d Obama\u2019s site refers to Iraq mostly in the context of the candidate\u2019s position on ending U.S. military involvement there, but the term is not among those mostly frequently used.<\/p>\n\n

McCain, in turn, makes little use of three terms that speak to domestic priorities: \u201cchildren,\u201d \u201cfamilies\u201d and \u201chelp.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

The Obama Web site employs these terms most often in reference to ensuring middle-class economic security. The Democratic economic message centers around \u201cworking families,\u201d poverty and investments needed to strengthen the economy and \u201chelp\u201d families and children in need. But Obama also highlights his support for a \u201cfamily values\u201d message about the importance of parenting and family in raising children.<\/p>\n\n

McCain uses \u201cservice\u201d and \u201cexperience\u201d both to accentuate his military service, but also to turn his age into an advantage as a candidate with \u201cexperience\u201d and the judgment necessary to make difficult decisions as president. <\/p>\n\n

Speeches<\/h4>\n\n

Speeches comprise the single largest share of informational text on both candidates\u2019 Web sites, and most closely articulate the campaigns\u2019 boilerplate messages. Speeches are another medium where the candidate and campaign have tight control over content, message and tone. Speeches on Obama\u2019s site stretch as far back as 2002, when the one-time Illinois state senator gave remarks in opposition to going to war with Iraq. McCain\u2019s are more recent, from March 2008 to the present. <\/p>\n\n

Through an examination of the most frequently used words in speeches archived on the candidates\u2019 Web sites as of August 6, 2008, PEJ found that Obama is more likely than McCain to address policy issues. The presumptive Democratic nominee focuses on energy, oil and jobs in 161 public addresses posted to his Web site. <\/p>\n\n

The Democrat encapsulates the message of \u201cNew Energy for America\u201d in his speeches, sketching what he calls a \u201ccomprehensive\u201d plan that includes energy rebates, getting off of foreign oil, creating \u201cgreen jobs,\u201d and lastly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n

Employment is the issue most often addressed by McCain in speeches, but by and large the Republican senator appeals to a perception of his supporters\u2019 patriotism, invoking \u201cAmerica\u201d \u201cAmerican(s)\u201d and \u201ccountry\u201d a combined total of 252 times in the course of 47 speeches. <\/p>\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

The relationship among these words indicates a strong emphasis on McCain\u2019s own patriotism as well, perhaps in an attempt to draw a distinction from Obama, who has been the subject of rumors questioning the Illinois senator\u2019s \u201clove of country\u201d that have been distributed via e-mail and covered by the mainstream press. <\/p>\n\n

Education is a less dominant, but recurring theme in speeches by McCain. \u201cEducation,\u201d \u201cpublic,\u201d and \u201cschool\u201d appear near each other in the text, and the three terms are used at about the same rate. These terms, on the other hand, do not appear in a search of the 20 most frequent terms used by Obama in speeches. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

FOOTNOTE:<\/strong>
<\/a>1. <\/strong>PEJ searched among 2,672 words on Obama\u2019s Web site, compared with 2,451 on McCain\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n

\u00a0 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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