Two charts assess Donald Trump’s distinctive debate style

W hen donald trump and Kamala Harris debate for the first time on September 10th, two very different speaking styles will be on display. Mr Trump talks and talks. His speech at the Republican National Convention, in July, was reportedly scripted to last 40 minutes. It was supposed to reinvent him as the unifier of a polarised country mere days after he had survived an assassination attempt. Instead he extemporised heavily, going on the attack so energetically that the few “unifier” bits were quickly forgotten. And he delivered the longest nomination-acceptance speech at a convention in modern history, at 92 minutes. Ms Harris, by contrast, spoke for just 38 minutes at the Democratic convention last month. The two differ in another way: Mr Trump crammed an average of 128 words into each minute of his time on the podium (including pauses and breaks for applause). Ms Harris managed just 97, meaning that Mr Trump got in 3.4 times as many words as she did. That is consistent with their perf

W hen donald trump and Kamala Harris debate for the first time on September 10th, two very different speaking styles will be on display. Mr Trump talks and talks. His speech at the Republican National Convention, in July, was reportedly scripted to last 40 minutes. It was supposed to reinvent him as the unifier of a polarised country mere days after he had survived an assassination attempt. Instead he extemporised heavily, going on the attack so energetically that the few “unifier” bits were quickly forgotten. And he delivered the longest nomination-acceptance speech at a convention in modern