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Topics and participation in the first presidential debate (September 2016)
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 Date: November 8, 2016 |
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This article analyzes the central themes of the first general election presidential debate held on September 26, 2016, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The transcript prepared by The Washington Post was used to measure candidate participation and audience engagement.[1] Footage from the debate was consulted where there were ambiguities in the text.
For comparison, see the analyses of the final Democratic primary and Republican primary debates held in April 2016 and March 2016, respectively.
Participants
 Hillary Clinton (D) |
 Donald Trump (R) | |||
Segments
This debate featured 15 unique discussion segments covering the economy, criminal justice, race relations, and national security. There were no opening or closing statements. These discussion segments were measured by any shift in the theme of a discussion prompted by the moderator, Lester Holt.
- Job creation
- Govenment regulations and trade
- Taxes
- Trump's tax returns
- Clinton's private email server
- Race relations
- Stop-and-frisk policies
- Implicit bias and law enforcement
- Trump and the birther movement
- Cybersecurity
- Domestic terrorism
- Presidential temperament and Trump's support for the Iraq War
- Nuclear policy
- Clinton's stamina
- Response to outcome of election
One-fourth of the debate's discussion segments was focused on international trade and national security. There were seven countries mentioned five or more times: China, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Mexico, North Korea, and Russia.
Candidate participation by speaking order
This study calculated the number of times a candidate was prompted to speak first or second during a discussion segment by the moderator. Although both candidates participated in every discussion segment, Trump was asked to respond to the moderator's questions first more frequently. In the final five discussion segments, Trump was called on to speak first four out of five times.
Candidate participation by speaking time
According to The New York Times, Trump spoke for 44.4 minutes and Clinton spoke for 41.4 minutes.[2] Trump also spoke at a quicker rate than Clinton, saying approximately 2,200 more words than her throughout the night.
Audience engagement
Audience engagement was measured by noting applause, cheering, and laughter in The Washington Post's transcript. Footage from the debate was consulted when the text was ambiguous about to whom the audience was responding.
Although the audience was instructed prior to the debate "to remain silent so that we can focus on what the candidates are saying," the audience audibly applauded or laughed 14 times throughout the event. Holt admonished the audience once when it applauded in response to Trump calling on Clinton to release additional emails from her private email server.
Overall, Clinton received two more positives instances of audience engagement than Trump. Given Holt's instruction to the audience, both candidates underperformed in engagement with the live audience compared to previous debates. In the final primary debates, for example, the audience responded positively more than 60 times to Clinton on April 14, 2016, and 30 times to Trump on March 10, 2016.
Comments and exchanges receiving an audience response
- Clinton: I have a feeling that by, the end of this evening, I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened.
Trump: Why not?
Clinton: Why not? Yeah, why not?
- Trump: I will release my tax returns—against my lawyer's wishes—when she releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted. As soon as she releases them, I will release.
- Trump: Our country has tremendous problems. We're a debtor nation. We're a serious debtor nation. And we have a country that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals. And we don't have the money, because it's been squandered on so many of your ideas.
Clinton: And maybe because you haven't paid any federal income tax for a lot of years.
- Clinton: I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that's a good thing.
- Trump: But let me just tell you. When you talk about healing, I think that I've developed very, very good relationships over the last little while with the African-American community. I think you can see that. And I feel that they really wanted me to come to that conclusion. And I think I did a great job and a great service not only for the country, but even for the president, in getting him to produce his birth certificate.
Holt: Secretary Clinton?
Clinton: Well, just listen to what you heard.
- Trump: Well, I have much better judgment than she does. There's no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you know?
- Trump: I have a much better—she spent—let me tell you—she spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an advertising -- you know, they get Madison Avenue into a room, they put names—oh, temperament, let's go after—I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not have a...
Holt: Secretary Clinton?
Trump: Wait. The AFL-CIO the other day, behind the blue screen, I don't know who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of control. I said, there's a person with a temperament that's got a problem.
Holt: Secretary Clinton?
Clinton: Whew, OK.
- Clinton: So a man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes, as far as I think anyone with any sense about this should be concerned.
Trump: That line's getting a little bit old, I must say. I would like to...
Clinton: It's a good one, though. It well describes the problem.
- Trump: You have to be able to negotiate our trade deals. You have to be able to negotiate, that's right, with Japan, with Saudi Arabia. I mean, can you imagine, we're defending Saudi Arabia? And with all of the money they have, we're defending them, and they're not paying? All you have to do is speak to them. Wait. You have so many different things you have to be able to do, and I don't believe that Hillary has the stamina.
Holt: Let's let her respond.
Clinton: Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina.
- Trump: Hillary has experience, but it's bad experience. We have made so many bad deals during the last—so she's got experience, that I agree.
- Trump: But it's bad, bad experience. Whether it's the Iran deal that you're so in love with, where we gave them $150 billion back, whether it's the Iran deal, whether it's anything you can—name—you almost can't name a good deal. I agree. She's got experience, but it's bad experience. And this country can't afford to have another four years of that kind of experience.
- Clinton: And one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. And he called this woman "Miss Piggy." Then he called her "Miss Housekeeping," because she was Latina. Donald, she has a name.
Trump: Where did you find this? Where did you find this?
Clinton: Her name is Alicia Machado.
Trump: Where did you find this?
Clinton: And she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet...
Trump: Oh, really?
Clinton: ... she's going to vote this November.
- Trump: But it's certainly not a nice thing that she's done. It's hundreds of millions of ads. And the only gratifying thing is, I saw the polls come in today, and with all of that money...
Holt: We have to move on to the final question.
Trump: ... $200 million is spent, and I'm either winning or tied, and I've spent practically nothing.
- Trump: Look, here's the story. I want to make America great again. I'm going to be able to do it. I don't believe Hillary will. The answer is, if she wins, I will absolutely support her.
Candidate analysis
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See also
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential election, 2016/Polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
- Presidential election, 2016/Straw polls
Footnotes
