Thread by @kirstinferguson

Words matter.

I have analysed the frequency of words spoken by PM and OL over the past month (11 Apr - 11 May) from transcripts of speeches/remarks, pressers, doorstops & interviews. These are all available on each leaders' respective campaign website.

#ausvotes #auspol

/1

PM has spoken 190,000 words during the month
OL has spoken 98,000 words during the month

The OL has spoken just over half the words of the PM in the same period of time. This covers his period in isolation due COVID.

#ausvotes #auspol

/2

PM's words come from 70 events (6 addresses and remarks, 33 interviews, 31 doorstops & pressers).

OL words come from 62 events (4 addresses, 31 interviews, 27 doorstops & pressers)

Even with iso, OL has spoken at 88% of the number of events of the PM.

#ausvotes #auspol

/3

Election bingo

PM's top five words, in order of frequency, are -
- know
- Australia
- government
- now
- people

OL's top five words, in order of frequency, are -
- government
- people
- well
- one
- just

#auspol #ausvotes

/4

One leader names their opponent more than the other

OL has said Morrison by name 302 times (0.39% of his total words).

PM has said Albanese by name 269 times (0.23% of his total words).

#auspol #ausvotes

/5

Childcare is not a word used consistently by both leaders

OL has said "childcare" 113 times (0.28% total words)
PM has said "childcare" 4 times (0.01% total words)

#auspol #ausvotes #womenvote

/6

Medicare is a word used by one leader much more than the other

OL has said "Medicare" 95 times (0.37%)
PM has said "Medicare" 69 times (0.03%)

#auspol #ausvotes

/7

The word economy comes up a lot for both

PM has said "economy" 681 times (0.23%)
OL has said "economy" 108 times (0.30%)

#auspol #ausvotes

/8

The word China is used by both although one leader likes to say "Defence" more often

PM said "China" 63 times (0.02%)
OL said "China" 34 times (0.02%)

PM said "Defence" 235 times (0.10%)
OL said "Defence" 24 times (0.02%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/9

The words strong and weak feature more in one leaders words than the other

PM has said "strong" or "strongly" 479 times (0.20%)
OL has said "strong" or "strongly" 24 times (0.03%)

PM has said "weak" 17 times (0.01%)
OL has not said weak

#ausvotes #auspol

/10

No leader has said "violence against women", "domestic abuse", "coercive control", "sexual harassment" or "consent" during the period.

The OL has said "women's safety" and "gender equality" once each.

The PM hasn't said either term at all.

#ausvotes #auspol #womenvote

/11

Climate change has been mentioned by one leader more than the other

PM has said "climate change" 13 times (0.01%)
OL has said "climate change" 87 times (0.36%)

PM has said "environment" 17 times (0.02%)
OL has said "environment" 5 times (0.02%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/12

No leader has said "living wage"

PM has said "housing affordability" 3 times (0.02%)
OL has said "housing affordability" 4 times (0.01%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/13

Pandemic and COVID still feature heavily

PM has said pandemic 334 times (0.25%)
OL has said pandemic 73 times (0.15%)

PM has said COVID 40 times (0.01%)
OL has said COVID 30 times (0.03%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/14

Thanks, mate!

PM has said "mate" 17 times (0.07%)
OL has said "mate" 14 times (0.05%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/15

Independent's get a mention

PM has said "Independents" 53 times (0.07%)
OL has said "Independents" 8 times (0.03%)

#ausvotes #auspol

/16

Here is a word cloud generated by nVivo of both leaders words over the past month

#ausvotes #auspol

/17

To the people asking about the % - they are the weighted percentage (not % of total words) and come from nVivo.
The weighted percentage assigns a portion of the word's frequency to each group so that the overall total does not exceed 100%.

Just ignore the percentages. Should have left them out as they confuse things. They are simply a text analysis stat from nVivo.

Focus on the raw numbers instead.

(And really wish there was an edit function on Twitter 😉)

To confirm and just for total accuracy - dates of data set are 10 April - 10 May …. date of election announcement to end of yesterday (NOT 11 April - 11 May).