PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off for the first time in Monday night’s debate, clashing over policies and attacking each other on the issues.
The numbers behind the debate highlight each candidate’s unique communication style and the dynamics of the debate’s back-and-forth.
Here are some fun facts from last night’s debate:
Trump spoke roughly three minutes longer than Clinton did. He interrupted her 39 times, whereas Clinton interrupted him just 9 times. While Clinton interrupted Trump roughly once every 10 minutes, Trump interrupted Clinton once every two minutes and 27 seconds.
And a few more stats on last night’s debate via an @ABC analysis: pic.twitter.com/TT3MGShYyA
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) September 27, 2016
Clinton spent more than half of her speaking time having already been interrupted by Trump earlier in the answer. She talked for 21 minutes, 33 seconds after an interruption vs. 20 minutes, 17 seconds before she was interrupted or in answers without an interruption at all. Trump, on the other hand, spoke more than 40 minutes — 90 percent of his speaking time — without being interrupted.
In one less than 10-minute span, Trump interrupted Clinton 18 times. During that time, over the course of a less than two-minute answer from Clinton, Trump interrupted her 9 times — once every 12 seconds.
Here’s an amazing stat: Clinton spent over half her speaking time last night having already been interrupted by Trump earlier in the answer.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) September 27, 2016
Trump spoke significantly faster than Clinton as well. He spoke an average of 188 words per minute vs. Clinton’s 146 words per minute. He also spoke roughly one grade level lower than Clinton, according to a Flesch-Kincaid readability analysis.
So I ran the big Trump-Clinton debate thru Microsoft Word and got these stats out: pic.twitter.com/zZxAsD1znv
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) September 27, 2016
Clinton’s sentences were also slightly longer. She averaged 16 words per sentence vs. 14 words per sentence for Trump.
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