A Critical Analysis of Harris's and Trump's Discourse in the U.S. Presidential Election -2024

Abstract

The present study aims to critically analyze Harris's and Trump's discourse in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The study focuses on the sole Harris-Trump debate as well as each of their nomination acceptance speeches. The study adopts Fairclough's (1989) CDA three-dimensional model with the purpose of determining how the candidates' backgrounds and personal experiences contributed to their word choices and exploring the effect of utilizing different modes of sentence (declarative, grammatical question, imperative) on the candidates' rhetorical style. Using a qualitative research design, the data gathered from official transcripts were described, interpreted, and explained. The findings presented instances of the candidates' word choices that reflected their personal experiences as well as unveiled their ideologies. The findings also revealed that candidates' employment of different modes of sentence incorporated with persuasive rhetorical devices served to create a unique rhetorical style in their discourse. This study contributes to the field of linguistic research by demonstrating some ideologically driven linguistic techniques and their employment in political communication.