References to Hillary Clinton Dominate Republican Convention Speeches
RNC speakers made over 250 mentions of Clinton in three days.
— -- A raft of speakers from a variety of backgrounds made their way to the podium at the Republican National Convention, and many found a unifying topic to link their remarks: Hillary Clinton.
An ABC News review of transcripts from the evening sessions of the convention show major speakers directly mentioning Clinton an average of just over six times throughout their speeches. The analysis, which only includes selected speakers, does not include mentions of “she” or “her” upon subsequent references.
Day 4
On the final night of the convention, Republican speakers turned the attention more towards Trump, and focused less on Clinton.
The former secretary of state's name was invoked a total of 28 times Thursday night, 11 times by the Republican nominee himself. In comparison, New Jersey governor Chris Christie mentioned her name 23 times in roughly fifteen minutes two nights ago.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus also said Clinton's name 11 times throughout his remarks, mentioning her even before he mentioned Trump.
Day 3
Following two days in which the Republican National Convention seemingly centered around talk of Clinton, discussion of the presumptive Democratic nominee continued in earnest on night three as headlining speakers continuously uttered Clinton’s name from the podium in Cleveland.
After directly mentioning Clinton by name almost 200 times on Monday and Tuesday, ABC News recorded speakers adding another 60 references to the total Wednesday night.Indiana governor and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence had the greatest number of Clinton mentions -- 13 -- as he sought to contrast the ticket he shares with Donald Trump with that of the presumptive Democratic nominee.
As of Day 3, Christie led all speakers with 23 direct mentions of the candidate during his mock trial Tuesday night.
Trump’s son, Eric, deviated from the trend by not referring at all to Clinton, instead sticking to a personal narrative about his father. This choice followed the footsteps of other Trump family speakers who only called out the Democratic candidate three times during the first two days.
An additional reference was made Wednesday to the “Clinton machine” and, in regard to both Bill and Hillary, “the Clintons.”
Other commonly mentioned words included (in order of frequency): “Donald Trump,” “America,” “country” and “people.” Trump had 110 mentions on Wednesday.
Day 2
On the second night of the convention,Christie was the most prolific user of Clinton’s name, saying “Hillary,” “Hillary Clinton” or “Clinton” -- with reference to the candidate -- a total of 23 times. The former U.S. Attorney’s speech centered upon a mock trial of the former secretary of state.
Those who shied away from mention of Clinton tended to be members of the Trump family. Melania and Tiffany Trump did not refer to Clinton at all, while Donald Trump Jr. made just three references during his more than 15 minutes at the mic.
Clinton was notably absent as well from the address of Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. With Cotton’s name commonly floated as a possible future Republican candidate for president, the first-term senator, 39, instead focused on his experiences in the military and his views on national security.