Do other recent presidents or candidates also speak at elementary grade levels according to readability tests?
Executive summary
Readability analyses show that speaking at an “elementary” or lower-middle-school grade level is common among recent presidential candidates, with many clustering around grades 6–8 and a handful—most notably Donald Trump and George W. Bush—scoring lower toward fifth-grade levels on some measures [1] [2] [3]. Differences in results often reflect which readability formula is used (REAP vs. Flesch‑Kincaid), which texts are sampled, and whether vocabulary or syntax is emphasized, so the headline “elementary grade level” simplifies a more nuanced methodological picture [4] [5] [6].
1. Most modern candidates land in the middle-school band, not uniformly in elementary school
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Language Technologies Institute analyzed campaign speeches and found that the “current candidates generally had scores between 6th and 7th grades,” placing most contenders in a middle‑school readability range rather than uniformly at an elementary level [1] [2]. Multiple outlets reporting on that CMU work echoed the same finding that candidates’ word choice and grammar tend to map to grades six through eight [7] [3].
2. A handful score distinctly lower — Trump and Bush are the most-cited examples
The CMU study and subsequent reporting singled out Donald Trump as tending to “lag behind the others,” with readings often below sixth‑grade on some metrics; George W. Bush has also been noted at about a fifth‑grade level in prior comparisons [1] [2] [3]. Later analyses using Flesch‑Kincaid and other tests likewise placed many of Trump’s speeches in the 5th–6th grade band across recent years, though some individual addresses tested higher [8] [9].
3. Historic and cross-method comparisons complicate simple claims
When analysts broaden the sample to include past presidents and different metrics, the landscape shifts: campaign speeches by historical figures such as Lincoln, Reagan, Clinton, Bush (older), and Obama often register at least an eighth‑grade level on vocabulary measures, and data sets assessing presidents’ early State of the Union addresses show scores varying widely (e.g., Wilson up into collegiate levels, Trump around 8.1 in one SOTU measure), demonstrating that “grade level” depends heavily on which speeches are compared and which test is used [2] [9] [4].
4. Method matters: REAP vs. Flesch‑Kincaid and what each measures
The CMU study employed the REAP readability analysis that separately models vocabulary and syntax to predict grade level, while many media and follow‑up studies use Flesch‑Kincaid, which emphasizes sentence length and syllable counts [4] [5]. Readability metrics are structural proxies that do not measure conceptual complexity, rhetorical strategy, or persuasiveness; Ballotpedia and others explicitly note that FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease focus on syllables, words, and sentence length rather than substantive sophistication [6] [10].
5. Bottom line: yes—many recent candidates register at middle-school levels and some at elementary levels, but context flips the headline
It is accurate to say that many recent presidential candidates speak at readability levels consistent with grades 6–8, and that a subset—often invoked in political commentary—score at or near elementary (5th–6th) levels on some widely used metrics [1] [2] [8]. However, declaring that “all recent presidents or candidates speak at elementary grade levels” overreaches the evidence: results vary by candidate, by which speeches are sampled, and by the readability formula applied, and historical comparisons show higher-grade patterns for several past presidents [2] [4]. The reporting reviewed provides solid evidence for a general trend toward simpler public language, but methodological caveats mean the raw “grade level” number should be treated as an imperfect, context‑dependent indicator [5] [6].