State of the States Addresses
Governors’ promises
What governors across the country are promising about?
As the map shows, governors of different states take various strategies in expressing their commitment. Governors’ in the darker blue states (New Mexico, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma) have used modals and verbs of promises more frequently than others.
Explore the interactive map by selecting a topic, typing the name of a state, or simply moving your cursor.
Governors of different states also show their different priorities in their new year speech: economy and health are the top two topics that the Californian governor has promised about. The same topics are shared by governors in Washington state.
Which governors used most promise expressions?
The stacked area graph and the grid column graph show that governors, unlike presidents, prefer modals of volition (e.g., will, want to) to modals of obligation (e.g., must, should) to express commitment in their speeches, especially governors of Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Among the modals of volition, will is most frequently used, especially by the governor of New Mexico.
Explore the graphs by moving our cursor