Speech analysis: Biden smartest, Trump dumbest, W tops Obama, Hillary

Published



A new analysis of speeches given by the 2016 presidential candidates and other key political leaders puts Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz at the top of the smarts list, and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump at the bottom with a seventh-grade speaking level.

The technology blog Mashoid ran speeches of the political leaders through the Coleman–Liau index, a readability index that estimates the grade level necessary to understand the speeches, and found that Biden was tops for his use of long and complex words, a finding that seemed to surprise the reviewers.

Full midterm coverage.Deeper analysis.

Get unlimited access to Washington Examiner's reporting, expert analysis, and coverage of the midterm elections.

Get Unlimited Access

Cancel anytime.