Natalie Gonnella
With the "State of the State" season coming to a close with GOP governors Bill Haslam (TN) and Bobby Jindal (LA) due to present their remarks within the next week, Stateline.org has created an archive of word clouds detailing the major topics addressed by governors over the past decade.
In using Wordle to create the analysis, Christopher Swope detailed some interesting, and unsurprising trends:
If it seems like governors are always talking about education, jobs, taxes and the budget, it’s because they are. That’s the most obvious thing you’ll notice from our year-by-year analysis of Stateline’s archive of State of the State speeches from all 50 states. Look harder, and other trends emerge: a focus on “security” in 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, greater emphasis on “investments” during good times and “cuts” -- whether budgets or taxes -- during recessions.
The 2011 word cloud is included below and the full archive can be viewed here:
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