Who Will Win the Election Based on Their Sound?
With the upcoming American presidential election in November of 2020, you’ll be hearing more and more ads, speeches and debates from both presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It is fascinating to me, of course, that voters often consciously or subconsciously vote based on the way that the candidates sound. For example, years ago before the age of social media and television, voters would listen to the candidates on the radio. Back in the 1960’s, research predicted Nixon’s win based on his sound. But when people saw the two candidates side-by-side, the winner was Kennedy.
Perhaps you are asking yourself, like I did, what about the two candidates this time? They both have distinctive sounds (their voice brand) and a distinctive use of the language.
Today, as a fun exercise, I’m asking you to put aside your political preferences and pretend like you know nothing about Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Close your eyes and listen to the voices of the two candidates. Who sounds more presidential? Whose voice would you trust to lead our nation for the next four years? No doubt they are reading their notes vs. speaking spontaneously speaking. Take a listen to them give a 2020 commencement speech.
I’ve laid out the characteristics of speech, language, and voice (SLV) that I use to assess a professional leader and I’ve compared the two candidates in most of the categories with facts about their differences.
| SLV Characteristic | Joe Biden | Donald Trump |
| Loudness/Projection | Low, soft | Stays the same throughout |
| Pitch | Lower pitch than Trump | Higher pitch than Biden |
| Tone | Empathetic, gentle and passionate, reassuring | Serious, direct |
| Voice Quality | Slightly Raspy | Clear |
| Resonance | Not nasal | Not nasal |
| Expressive Intonation | More conversational (varied pitch) | Monotone |
| Diction | Clear but not always sharp and clean. Some words are mumbled or slurred. | Clearer than Biden |
| Rhythm/Pausing | With a slower rate of speech, he uses longer pauses between phrases and sentences. | Short sentences. Pauses are present. Choppier sound with bytes of information. |
| Rate of Speech | Slow and deliberate; becomes faster as he speaks passionately. | Faster than Joe Biden but not too fast. |
| Grammar | No grammatical errors, the use of “you” to be inclusive—makes it sound like he is speaking directly to me | No grammatical errors. Less use of “you.” There is a sense that he is addressing a general audience. |
| Vocabulary/Word Choice | Positive message of hope (sustainable, restore, endure, overcome, etc.) | Message of patriotism. Simple vocabulary, hyperbole (the greatest on earth), absolutes (“never” “always,” “nothing”) which tends to sound dramatic. |
| Conciseness | Uses storytelling to illustrate points | No storytelling which makes for a much shorter speech than Biden’s |
The two candidates have very different styles. Based on their sound/spoken presentation, whom do you predict wins the office of President of the United States? Please offer your comments below. Next time, we will analyze their debate voices since spontaneous speech is much different than reading.
Tags: commencement address 2020, Donald Trump, election, Joe Biden, preceptions, public speaking, voice