Trump narrowly beats out Bill Clinton for the longest average speaking time in a State of the Union speech
- President Donald Trump continues to hold the record for the longest average speaking time delivering a State of the Union address after his Tuesday night speech.
- Trump has delivered a speech with an average length of 5,580 words in an average time of one hour, 15 minutes, and 18 seconds during his presidency.
- Trump still outpaces President Bill Clinton, whose average speaking time across eight State of the Union addresses was one hour, 14 minutes, and 51 minutes.
- See the average speaking time, average word length, and average words per minute for the last ten US presidents' State of the Union addresses broken down here.
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In his February 4 speech before Congress, President Donald Trump held onto his record for the longest average speaking time delivering a State of the Union address.
Over Trump's three State of the Union addresses in 2018, 2019, and 2020, he's delivered a speech with an average length of 5,580 words in one hour, 15 minutes, and 18 seconds.
In that metric, Trump narrowly beats out former President Bill Clinton, whose average speaking time across eight State of the Union addresses was one hour, 14 minutes, and 51 minutes.
Trump delivered his Tuesday night speech in one hour, 18 minutes, and four seconds. Like Clinton in his 1999 address, Trump's 2020 State of the Union address came on the heels of the House impeaching him; neither president addressed impeachment in their speeches.
Trump's average speaking time is much longer than previous presidents' partly because he delivers his speeches at a much slower pace, speaking at just 75 words per minute.
By comparison, President Barack Obama's State of the Union speeches were over 1,200 words longer on average, but Obama spoke at a much faster pace of 109 words per minute.
This chart shows average speaking time, average word length, and average words per minute for the last ten US presidents, created with data from UC Santa Barbara's American Presidency Project:
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