Democrats more positive in acceptance speeches at convention
Analysis shows keynote speakers attack; candidates’ spouses praise

With the 2004 Democratic National Convention convening in Boston, new analysis by William Benoit, professor of Communication and one of the nation’s leading experts on presidential campaigns, found that Democratic nominees’ acceptance speeches are more positive than their Republican counterparts.

"As a group, Democrats and incumbent party candidates are usually more positive than Republicans and challengers," Benoit said. "Of course, this year the incumbent is a Republican, so these factors will likely cancel each other out."

Benoit found that in acceptance addresses from 1952 to 2000, 75 percent of the statements were positive, whereas 24 percent were attacks and one percent were defenses against attacks. He also found that 55 percent of the nominees’ speeches discussed policy and 45 percent discussed character.

Benoit said that keynote speakers at the conventions usually give more negative speeches than the candidates themselves. After researching keynote speeches from 1960 to 1996, he found that 48 percent contained attacks.

"It is not surprising that speeches from surrogates, rather than the candidates themselves, tend to attack more," Benoit said. "The hope is that any backlash from mudslinging would damage the keynote speaker and not the candidate."

In recent years, candidates’ spouses have given speeches at the conventions. Benoit found that their speeches are even more positive than the candidates’ addresses. In 1996, 95 percent of the statements made by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Elizabeth Dole were positive. He said that Laura Bush and Tipper Gore did not utter a single attack in their 2000 speeches. Typically, the spouses’ speeches focus on character rather than policy. For instance, in 2000, 76 percent of the women’s speeches focused on their husbands’ character compared to 67 percent in 1996.

Other information about the 2004 presidential campaign, along with historic contextual information, can be found at Benoit’s Presidential Campaign 2004 Website: http://presidentialcampaign2004.coas.missouri.edu/.

Additional links:

Bill Benoit
Department of Communication
Presidential Campaign 2004

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