Democrat and Republican 2020 Political Party Platforms Analysis

Summary: This is an analysis of the similarities and differences of the two main political parties, at least on paper according to their platform statements. Both parties are for a strong economy, education, and healthcare. Democrats stand out in their support for clean energy, the climate, minority rights, and opposition to the other party. Republicans stand out in their support of Constitutional government, the military, and the three Fs of freedom, family, and faith.

The following is a unique analysis of the text of the platforms of the two main political parties, Democrats and Republicans, that I hope is insightful and educational. The analysis treats both sides fairly and is neutral regarding party or policy preference. My goal was to see what the major topics were that the two parties discuss most and then compare and contrast the similarities and differences. The table of contents below explains how the analysis will flow, and it can also be used to follow the links to jump to the section that interests you most:

• Democratic Party Platform Analysis
• Republican Party Platform Analysis
• Similarities between the Two Parties
• Differences between the Two Parties
• Additional Topics of Interest:
  • God
  • Abortion

Democratic Party Platform Analysis

The 2020 Democratic Party Platform is 92 pages long and consists of 42,886 words, based on the PDF I downloaded from demconvention.com which appears to match the content found on democrats.org.

Democrats’ Word Cloud 1: All Words

In this first word cloud of the Democrat Party platform, I copied the entire text of the document and pasted it into the word cloud generate. I didn’t manually exclude any words, though the generator automatically removes common English words like “a”, “is”, and “the”.

As you can see, a lot of non-substantive, non-topical words dominate the cloud. Of course, the word “Democrats” appears a lot, as well as “support”, and “American.” I have deemed these “filler” words. It became immediately clear that if I wanted the word cloud to be representative of the substantive topics and issues of the party, then I needed to remove the filler words. For a complete list of the filler words and context and examples of how they are used, please see the appendix called “Democrat Filler Words and Examples.”

Democrats’ Word Cloud 2: Filler Words Removed

With the non-substantive, filler words removed, we now get a much better view of the topics and issues that are most prominent in the Democrat Party platform.

Here is a list of the 25 most frequently mentioned substantive topics and issues in the Democrat Party platform, as well as some context and examples of how the words are used.

• Health: “health care”, “health care costs”, “health care quality”, “health inequities”, “reproductive health”, “LGBTQ+ health”, “public health”, “universal health care”, “health care access”, “health departments”, “health crisis”, “health insurance”, “health care is a right”
• Care: “health care”, “child care”, “Affordable Care Act”, “take care of…”, “Dependent Care”, “care for seniors”, “quality of care”, “primary care”
• Workers: “social workers”, “white workers”, “white workers”, “Black workers”, “sex workers”, “union workers”, “energy workers”, “young workers”, “immigrant workers”
• Family/Families: “millions of families…”, “prevent families from…”, “…on working families”, ”Latino family”, “Black family”, “working families”, “paid family leave”, “middle-class families”, “enabling families to…”, “family sustaining jobs”, “family farms”, “family farmers”, “low-income families”, “help families…”, “protect families”
• Trump: “the Trump Administration”, “President Trump”, “Under President Trump…”, “Trump and the Republicans” did xyz, “Trump lied” about xyz, “Trump failed to…”, “Trump Administration’s efforts to…”, “Unlike President Trump, we…”
• Rights: “consumer rights”, “reproductive health and rights”, “civil rights”, “workers’ rights”, “women’s rights”, “LGBTQ+ rights”, “disability rights”, “voting rights”, “human rights”, “equal rights”, “privacy rights” , “health care is a right”
• School(s): “school-to-prison pipeline”, “school districts”, “school systems”, “public schools”, “school meals”, “every school should…”, “after-school programs”
• Work: “work with private-sector”, “work-sharing programs”, “work from home”, “work with our partners”, “work in…”, “right to work”, “the work of…”
• Education/Educational: “education is…”, “educational settings”, “educational opportunities”, “continued education”, “career education”, “college education”, “educational institutions”, “higher education”, “music education”, “art education”, “education funding”
• Student(s): “student debt”, “students with disabilities”, “student loans”, “students can…”, “outcomes for students”, “students of color”, “students in rural areas”, “students get…”, “low-income students”, “ensure students…”, “no student should…”
• Disability/Disabilities: “people with disabilities”, “Disabilities Act”, “patients with disabilities”, “disability status”, “disability equipment”, “children with disabilities”, “disability rights”
• Job(s): “American jobs”, “new jobs”, “better jobs”, “lose their jobs”, “create jobs”, “adding jobs”, “on the job”, “good jobs”, “job gains”, “save jobs”
• Pandemic: “COVID-19 pandemic has…”, “the pandemic began…”, “COVID-19 pandemic will…”, “future pandemic threats”, “until the pandemic ends”, “another pandemic”, “containing the pandemic”
• Housing: “affordable housing,” “Fair Housing Act”, “federal housing”, “needs like housing”, “public housing”, “housing costs”, “housing availability”, “housing market”, “access to housing”
• Energy: “clean energy”, “energy efficient”, “energy bills”, “energy-saving”, “energy sector”, “energy generation”, “energy infrastructure”
• Funding: “expand funding so…”, “increase funding for…”, “provide funding to…”, “funding recipients”, “boost funding for…”, “federal funding to…”, “doubling funding for…”
• Economic: “economic well-being”, “economic development”, “economic activity”, “economic recovery”, “economic opportunity”, “economic crisis”
• Affordable: “affordable health insurance”, “Affordable Care Act”, “more affordable to…”, “affordable public option”, “affordable coverage”
• President: “President Trump”, “the President”, “our President”
• Tax: “tax code”, “tax revenue”, “taxpayer dollars”, “tax cuts”, “raising taxes”, “tax credit”, “tax incentives”, “tax breaks”
• Women: “women’s rights”, “violence against women”, “women of color”, “women’s reproductive health”, “pregnant women”, “young women”, “transgender women”, “women who served”, “pay for women”, “women-owned small businesses”
• Climate: “climate change”, “climate-resilient”, “climate justice”, “climate crisis”, “Paris Climate Agreement”, “climate risks”
• Economy: “our economy”, “energy economy”, “…in the economy”, “the economy is…”, “fairer economy”, “inequality in our economy”, “across the economy”
• Security: “American security”, “national security”. “collective security”, “safety and security”
• Color: “entrepreneurs of color”, “communities of color”, “women of color”, “people of color”

The vast majority of the topics in the Democrat Party platform can be bucketed into four categories, and they are, in order of how frequently they are discussed:

• Economy and Jobs (keywords: Affordable, Economic, Economy, Funding, Housing, Job/s, Tax, Work)
• Identity Group/Minority Rights (keywords: Color, Disability/ies, Family/ies, Rights, Women, Workers)
• Healthcare (keywords: Care, Health, Pandemic)
• Education (keywords: Education/al, School/s)

If I were to extend it to six categories, as I do for the Republicans below, the two additional categories in their top 25 would be, in order,

• Political Opponents (keywords: President, Trump)
• Energy/Climate (keywords: Climate, Energy)

Again, remember, these six categories are not exhaustive of everything discussed by the Democrats in their platform, but these six topics dominate the discussion.

Republican Party Platform Analysis

The 2020 Republican Party Platform is the same as their 2016 platform. It’s 67 pages long and consists of 37,549 words, just a little shorter than the Democrat’s, based on the PDF I downloaded from GOP.com. https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/docs/Resolution_Platform_2020.pdf

I had a harder time finding the GOP platform and when I did, it was an image-based PDF where you can’t search the text—both signs of the party’s poor digital marketing skills. Undeterred, I converted the PDF to text so I could search it and do the textual analysis as I did on the Democrat’s platform.

Republicans’ Word Cloud 1: All Words

Again, in this first word cloud of the Republican Party platform, I copied the entire text of the document and pasted it into the word cloud generator. I didn’t manually exclude any words, though the generator automatically removes common English words like “a”, “is”, and “the”.

Again, a lot of non-substantive, non-topical words dominate the cloud like “Republican”, “support”, and “American.” And once again, I removed these “filler” words, which are slightly different, but largely the same as the Democrats, in order to focus on the substantive topics and issues of the party. For a complete list of the filler words and context and examples of how they are used, please see the appendix called “Republican Filler Words and Examples.”

Republicans’ Word Cloud 2: Filler Words Removed

Here is the better view of the topics and issues that are most prominent in the Republican Party platform with the non-substantive, filler words removed:

Here is a list of the 25 most frequently mentioned topics and issues in the Republican Party platform, as well as some context and examples of how the words are used.

• Right(s): “rights of life, liberty…”, “rights of the people”, “constitutional rights”, “inalienable rights”, “natural rights”, “individual rights”, “Bill of Rights”, “property rights”
• President: “a president who…”, “president will…”, “president to enforce…”, “a president to…”, “the current President’s…”
• Congress: “the current congress”, “les Congress to…”, “we urge congress to…”, “consult congress”, “Congress has…”, “authority of congress”
• Health/Healthcare: “system of healthcare”, “health insurance”, “subsidize healthcare”, “healthcare providers”, “health regulations”, “health and safety”, “mental health”
• Economic: “economic growth”, “economic potential”, “economic burden”, “economic security”, “economic development”, “economic stagnation”
• Education/Educational: “educational institutions”, “education curricula”, “reform in education”, “higher education”, “quality education”
• Security: “national security”, “lines at security checks”, “domestic security”, “farm security”, “energy security”
• Private: “private companies”, “private sector”, “private schools”, “private industry”, “private insurance”,
• Military: “military action”, “military personnel”, “military service”, “our military”, “strongest military”, “military spending”
• Economy: “our economy”, “global economy”, “American economy”, “free enterprise economy”, “strong economy”
• Job(s): “job creation”, “more jobs can”, “thousands of jobs”, “costs jobs”, “high paying jobs”
• Religious: “our religious institutions”, “role of religious organizations”, “religious intolerance”, “religious liberty”, “religious colleges”, “religious beliefs”, “religious leaders”
• Energy: “American energy”, “energy production”, “energy price”, “local energy options”
• Amendment(s): “First Amendment”, “Second Amendment”, “Fifth Amendment”, “Fourteenth Amendment”, “Balanced Budget Amendment”
• Families: “…have sustained families”, “American families”, “families can…”, “families with…”, “families spend”, “power to make” decisions for their families, “marriage and family”, “traditional family values”
• Tax: “tax code”, “tax breaks”, “another tax”, “tax exempt status”, “powers to tax”, “tax credits”, “tax increases”
• Freedom: “political freedom”, “economic freedom”, “the freedom to…”, “religious freedom”, “freedom of speech”, “preserve freedom”, “protect our freedom”
• Constitutional: “constitutional system”, “constitutional rights”, “constitutional government”, “constitutional authority”, “constitutional limits”, “constitutional protections”
• Workers/Workforce: “interests of U.S. workers”, “mobility for workers”, “opportunities for workers”, “workers’ freedom”, “today’s workers need…”, “unionized workers”, “the federal workforce”, “workforce issues”, “21st Century workforce”, “workforce development”, “the modern workforce”, “competitive workforce”
• Growth: “economic growth”, “growth that will…”, “pro-growth tax code”, “post-recession growth”, “growth to our economy”, “productivity growth”
• Care: “withdrawal of care”, “care to an infant”, “care for the land”, “mental health care”, “long-term care”, “Affordable Care Act”, “foster care”, “who care about”
• Human: “human equality”, “human life”, “human cloning”, “human health”, “human ingenuity”, “human history”, “human trafficking”, “human resources”
• Work: “Right-to-Work laws”, “hard work should…”, “to work for it”, “where they work and live”, “make government work”, “work for the people”, “citizens who work”, “the hard work of…”
• School(s): “school choice”, “do well in school”, “safe schools”, “control of our schools”, “high schools”, “school districts”
• Student(s): “student needs”, “student performance”, “all students can”, “student advancement”, “disadvantaged students”

For the Republicans, the vast majority of these could be bucketed into three categories, and they are, in order of how frequently they are discussed:

• Economy and Jobs (keywords: Economic, Economy, Growth, Job/s, Private, Tax, Work, Workers, Workforce)
• Freedom, Family, and Faith (keywords: Families, Freedom, Human, Religious, Right/s)
• Constitutional Government (keywords: Amendment/s, Congress, Constitutional/ly, President)

This encapsulates about two thirds of the top 25 issues discussed in the Republican Party platform. For the rest of the top 25, it is a near tie for these three additional categories:

• Healthcare (keywords: Care, Health/care)
• Education (keywords: Education/al, School/s, Student/s)
• Security/Military (keywords: Military, Security)

Again, remember, not all the topics discussed by the Republicans in their platform are encapsulated in these six categories, but these six dominate the discussion more than any other.

Similarities between the Two Parties’ Platforms

Both parties focus heavily on…

• Economy and Jobs
• Education
• Healthcare

It’s good to see that both parties agree that we need a strong economy, an effective education system, and the best healthcare possible. But while Democrats and Republicans share the common goal of a strong economy, education, and healthcare, each party’s idea of what makes for good policy in those areas is different. So, it begs the question of what the difference in approach is to these common topical priorities.

Economy and Jobs:

• Democrats focus on pushing for affordability of good and services, helping people navigate various economic situations, and providing funding for various economic services.
• Republicans focus on pushing for policies that will spur economic growth and strength, rights of workers and private companies, and developing opportunities for workers to thrive.
• Both talk a lot about creating new jobs and developing a tax code to facilitate their policies.

Education:

• Democrats focus on giving people educational opportunities in a wide variety of subjects, developing and funding a many types of school programs, and helping people pay for higher education.
• Republicans focus on the quality of education, freedom in school choice, and providing opportunities for students to advance and thrive.

Healthcare:

• Democrats’ discussion focuses on caring for the needs of people and particular groups, on protecting and expanding access to healthcare services, and on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Republicans focus on healthcare systems, regulations, and administering healthcare.
• Both parties talk a lot about health insurance coverage.

In each of these subjects, I’d have to say that the Democrats’ approach is more people oriented and personable, while the Republican’s approach is more overarching and systemic. Obviously, there are benefits to each approach, no value judgement here—just trying to report the facts.

Differences between the Two Parties

Now let’s talk about where the platforms of the two parties differ. The Democrats stress three areas that the Republicans do not:

• Identity Group/Minority Rights
• Political Opponents
• Energy and Climate

This is not to say that the Republicans don’t address these items in their platform, but they are not nearly as big a focus.

For the Republicans, they focus on the following three areas, which are not highly emphasized by the Democrats:

• Constitutional Government
• Freedom, Family, and Faith
• Security and Military

Again, I am not trying to say that Democrats don’t address these topics, they are just not heavily emphasized in their platform.

The Democrats discussion of the issue of Rights and the Republicans emphasis on Freedom, in some ways, could be considered a similarity because the “freedom” to do something and the “right” to do something are often interchangeable concepts. Ultimately, their approaches seemed distinct enough to warrant calling them differences, rather than similarities. For example, Democrats’ discussion of rights is focus on specific rights of specific minority groups or other identity groups. Republicans, on the other hand, tend to talk about universal individual rights and they don’t call out specific minorities or identity groups.

I would love to comment more and give you my thoughts about the implications of the approaches of the two parties, but in order to keep this post from getting too long and to stay politically neutral I’ll refrain.

Additional Topics of Interest

There were, however, a couple of other topics of personal interest to me that didn’t surface above in the analysis of the most discussed topics. So, I wanted to call them out here.

Parties’ Treatment of God

In 2012, I remember a news story about the Democrat party striking all instances of the word “God” from their party platform. I wanted to see if that was still true, and it appears it is not, though it almost is. Democrats use the word God only once in their platform. It is in a section on ending poverty, and it says, “Democrats remain committed to ending poverty and enabling all Americans to live up to their God-given potential.”

Republicans are much more liberal with their use of the word “God”, using it 15 times in their party platform. Examples include, “God Bless America”, that we have “God-given” rights, and a “right to worship God.”

Parties’ Discussion of Abortion

Democrats use the word abortion five times in their party platform such as when they discuss their support for “safe and legal abortion”, and their opposition to “restrictions on medication abortion.” There are several other references to abortion, however, without using the word. The Democrats talk about “reproductive health”, “reproductive rights”, “reproductive care”, and even “reproductive justice.” They do not specify all that is included in their definition of “reproductive” health/rights/etc. but they do explicitly state that it includes abortion.

Republicans use the word abortion 15 times in their party platform. They talk about opposing “the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion.” They talk about “elective abortions” presumably in contrast to abortions that are performed to protect the life of the mother. They talk about not requiring people to buy health insurance “that includes abortion coverage”, and they speak out very critically of the “cruelest forms of abortion, especially dismemberment abortion.” Republicans promote the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” and speak out against “China’s barbaric program of forced abortion.”

Conclusion

I have tried to approach this analysis in a bi-partisan way, staying politically neutral and just presenting the facts of what the parties themselves say in their platform statements. Hopefully you agree that I have treated each side fair, but if you feel I misrepresented one side or the other, please let me know in the comments below.

I think a careful reading of this analysis will help each side see better where the other side is coming from. With an open mind, I think most people will probably see many things the Republicans can learn from the Democrats’ approach and that the Democrats can learn from the Republicans. I know, at least for me, it has been a very educational and enlightening exercise. If you want to dive deeper with me and get more of my personal insights and recommendations, please reach out and contact me, my consulting fees are very reasonable 😊

P.S. Regarding “Family”

One reader of this article commented to me on Facebook that my “viewpoint unavoidably colors [my] interpretation” particularly regarding “family”. This reader felt “both parties express a desire to support American families” and thus Family should have been one of the topics in the middle area of my main illustration. I told this reader that that interpretation has merit, but upon re-examining the data, I stand behind my decision. There are infinite ways to slice and dice the data, so of course my world-view is going to color the groupings. But if one looks at how each party uses the word “family” I think it fits well with my categorizations. Both parties use the term “family” almost generically in many cases: “American families” this and “helping families” do that. “Family” could be substituted with “people” in these cases and it would not change the meaning of their statements. When the Democrats get more granular, they tend to talk about families from their identity group perspective: “families of color”, “working families”, “low-income families”, etc. That’s why I grouped it with the identity group rights category. When Republicans get more granular on families, they frequently talk more about “marriage and family” and “traditional family values.” Again, the exclusion of family from the Democrat’s side of the main illustration doesn’t mean to imply they don’t talk about the subject or care about it, it simply means it is not one of the handful of heaviest things emphasized in their platform.

---

Appendix 1: Democrat Filler Words and Examples

• Access “denied access to…”, “expand access to…”, “accelerating access to…”, “deter access to…”, “gaps in access to…”, “lack of access to…”, “able to access…”
• Act “We will act to…”, “…failed to act”, This Act, That Act, “Affordable Care Act”, “…Education Act”, “Civil Rights Act”, “…Diversity Act”, “Rehabilitation Act”, “…Security Act”, “GLOBE Act”, “…Democracy Act”,
• Administration “Trump Administration” (54), “Biden Administration”, “Democratic Administration”
• Also
• America “America must…”, “America should…”, xyz “in America”
• American “the American people”, “American jobs”, “American economy”, “American workers”, “American communities”, and several instances of “Native American”
• Americans xyz “for all Americans”, “Americans are able to get…”, “Americans can access…”
• Believe “Democrats believe…”, “Americans believe…”, “we believe…”
• Communities “underserved communities” , “indigenous communities”, “tribal communities”, “faith communities”, “rural communities”, “coastal communities”
• Country
• Democrats “Democrats will…”, “Democrats have…”, “Democrats believe…”
• Ensure “We will ensure…”, “Democrats will ensure…”, “we support x to ensure y”
• Especially
• Every “every American”, “every ZIP code”
• Federal “have the federal government…”, “the federal government should…”, “direct the federal government to…”, “federal aid”, “increase federal support for…”
• First “first in the world”
• Global “global health”, “global economy”, “global upheaval”, “global crisis”, “global effort to…”, “global pandemic”, “global response”, “global emergency”
• Government/s “our government”, “government’s responsibility”, “federal government”, “foreign governments”
• Help/ing “to help…”, “help increase…”, “help transform…”, “help protect…”, “help create…”, “help families”, “helping ensure”,
• Including we will do x, including y and z
• Increase/s/d/ing
• Law/s “rule of law”, “under current law”, “immigration law”, “law enforcement”, “law-abiding individuals”, “employment laws”
• Make “we will make…”, “make him…”, “make it easier”, “make available”, “make sure…”, “make ends meet”, “make investments”,
• National “Democratic National Committee”, “national public health”, “national security”, “national origin”, “national standards”, “national statistics”
• New
• One “no one should”, “one in four”
• People “the American people”, “people with disabilities”, “people of color”, “working people”
• Policy/cies “policies that…”, “policies to…”, “support policies”, “the policy of…”
• Program/s “surveillance program”, “sharing programs”, “security programs”, “programs that…”, “training programs”, “emergency programs”, “government programs”, “loan programs”, “farming programs”, “housing programs”, “assistance programs”
• Protect “Democrats will protect…”, “to protect…”, “protect working families”, “protect their health”, “protect workers’ rights”, “protect the health of…”
• Public “public opinion”, “public health”, “public institutions”, “public services”, “public good”, “public school”, “public option” for health insurance, “public resources”, “public-sector employees”, “public transportation”, “public good”, “public investments”, “public housing”
• Resources “federal resources”, “increased resources”, “educational resources”
• States “the United States…”, guidelines for “states”, give “support to states”, give “incentives for states”, “many states…”, “modernize states”, “prevent states from…”
• Support “payroll support”, “support” program xyz, “support” local and state governments, “Democrats support…”, “increase federal support for…”
• System/s “criminal justice system”, “immigration system”, “health care system”, “school systems”, “unemployment insurance system”, “banking system”, “transportation systems”, “wastewater systems”, “trading system”, “tax system”
• U.S.
• United “United States is…”, “United States has…”, “United States’ role in…”, “united in the fight for…”, “…across the United States”, “United States to be…”, “United States should…”
• Use “the use of…”, “to use…”, “use treatment”, “substance use” (21), “use of force”
• World “…in the world”, “lead the world in…”, “world-class…”, “world’s best…”, “first in the world to…”, “a world leader in…”, “throughout the world”, “around the world”, “world’s premier”, “world’s trust”

Appendix 2: Republican Filler Words and Examples
I don’t have as many examples for the Republicans, because often the usage was the same as the Democrats, or the context was obvious, based on similar examples from the Democrats.

• Access “open access to…”, “equal access”, “have access to…”
• Act
• Administration/’s “current Administration”
• Also
• America/ans “American people”, “Americans have”, “United States of America”
• Believe
• Call/ed “our call for…”, “we call on”, “we call for…”, “also called upon”, “so called”
• Community/ies
• Country
• Current
• Ensure
• Especially
• Every “every community”, “every American”
• Federal “…by the federal government”, “federal tax system”, “federal regulators”, “Federal Housing Administration”, “federal government has…”
• First “first and foremost”, “the first time”, “First Amendment” (13), “put taxpayers first”
• Foreign “foreign involvement in”, “foreign imports”, “foreign markets”, “foreign borrowing”, “foreign nationals”, “foreign relations”
• Government/’s “…by the federal government”, “federal government has…”, “government mandates”, “self-government”, “government agency”
• Law/s “law must be…”, “moral law”, “equal before the law”, “rule of law”, “enforce laws”, “our laws”, “administrative law”, “laws of nature”, “foreign law”
• Make
• Must “we must” do that or that, “school must be…”
• National “Republican National Committee/Convention”, “national debt”, “national security”
• New
• One “one-size-fits-all”, “One fifth of”, “one key to…”, “one man and one woman”, “one another”, “no one can”, “no one’s rights”
• Oppose “we oppose policies…”, “we oppose government…”, “and oppose divisive”, “we oppose” this or that
• Party
• People “people’s access to”, “the American people”, “people around the world”, “people with disabilities”
• Platform
• Policies “failed policies”, “tax policies”, “policies regarding…”, “housing policies”
• Political “political pressures”, “political document”, “political speech”
• Program/s
• Protect/ion
• Public/’s “public policies”, “the public should”
• Republican/s “the Republican Party”, “as Republicans we”
• Resources “natural resources”, “devote resources”, “energy resources”, “resources we have”, “scarce resources”
• State/s “United States of America”, “right of states”, “United States” (49), “rejected by the states”, “we urge states”
• Support “we support…”, “unanimous support of…”
• System/s
• U.S.
• United
• Urge “we urge the reform of…”, “we urge Congress”
• Use
• World/’s