A Comparative Study of Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication styles of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the US Presidential Debate 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jrsr/2025.4c121Keywords:
Verbal Communication, Non-verbal Communication, US Presidential Debate, Rhetorical StrategiesAbstract
The objective of this study is to find out the differences in verbal and non-verbal communication of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in US presidential debate. The study employs qualitative approach to find out the differences in the use of rhetorical strategies by Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. For the analysis of non-verbal communication, the multimodal framework has been applied to find out the differences in non-verbal communication of both candidates. Moreover, the researcher employs Ekman’s theory of FACS and Birdwhistell’s Kinesics to categorize facial expressions and interpret gestures. The sample of this study is the US 2024 Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The data is collected from available televised debate on YouTube channel named as ‘The Wall Street Journal’. The findings show that Kamala uses pathos abundantly. Trump is more likely to use hyperbole. Other rhetorical strategies used by both candidates include ethos, logos, parallelism, repetition and use of adjectives. The analysis of non-verbal communication reveals that Kamala displays expressive facial expressions while Trump is more likely to show serious and less expressive facial expressions. It is concluded from the analysis that Trump uses exaggeration (hyperbole) as rhetorical strategy while kamala makes use of emotional appeal (pathos) as a rhetorical strategy more throughout the debate. Kamala is emotional and feminine; Trump is aggressive and masculine. Their non-verbal communicative patterns display gender differences. The limitation of the study is its small sample of comparing the verbal and non-verbal communication styles of only one male and female politician.
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