The Words Republicans Use More Than Democrats in Debates

Few things illustrate the differences between Republican and Democratic visions for America than the things that their presidential hopefuls talk about at debate. The above chart takes the two most recent debates–the Oct. 28 Republican debate and the Oct. 19 Democratic debate–and looks at which party’s candidates mentioned 10 key policy terms more often.

To be sure, the questions moderators ask also help determine the words the candidates will use. Although many candidates are adept at turning away from a question to speak about what they’d like to discuss most. Words in the chart above are only counted once per response, so a candidate who says “Washington” three times in one dissertation–which happens!–contributes only one point to the party’s score.