College-level speaking not required at the GOP debates

[valerief]

In a debate Wednesday night that was rife with confrontation and verbal barbs, there was one thing that wasn't a big surprise: Nobody was speaking above a high school level.

And at least one front-runner was in elementary school territory.

That's according to a Big Crunch analysis of the first three Republican debates, looking at the candidates' speech patterns — and matching to them an appropriate school-grade level. We based our analysis on the well-known Flesch-Kincaid readability test. (Some readers might remember playing with this feature on Microsoft Word when writing up school reports — to see how highbrow their writing was.)

Donald Trump is at the youngest end of the spectrum — averaging a fifth-grade level of vocabulary. And maybe that's why he's done so well in the polls: His simple, straightforward talk has resonated with the electorate. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/29/college-level-speaking-not-required-at-the-gop-debates.html

[HassleCat]

1. Simpler is better for republicans

Simplistic is the bestest of all. "I'm not a scientist, but there is no such thing as climate change." "Government is the problem." Trees cause pollution. Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here. Show us the birth certificate. Obviously, a complete list would be pointless.

[3catwoman3]

2. True enough. It seems that high school level...

...comprehension is not required of the listening audience/potential voters.

[Jim__]

3. The vocabulary and syntax weren't the only things that were simplistic. - n/t

[MineralMan]

4. Really, it's impossible for the passengers in the GOP

Clown Car. Their brains have long since atrophied and their intellects, such as they are, have dwindled accordingly.

[olddots]

5. sorry those gomers aren't mature enough for high school

some of them have severe learning disabilities and all of them lack human decency .

[valerief]

6. True dat. If they were decent, they wouldn't be/vote Republican. nt