General election · 22 October 2020
Presidential Debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee
Full transcript: The American Presidency Project (opens The American Presidency Project in a new tab)
Speaking turns
352
17,612 words transcribed
Candidates' share
82%
2 candidates
Moderators' share
18%
moderators, panellists, questioners
Crosstalk markers
0
73 turns end on a dash
The debate, turn by turn
Read left to right: each block is one turn, placed where it falls in the running word count and as wide as it is long.
Candidates Moderators, panellists, questioners Audience, recorded clips, unidentified
Share of words
A stand-in for talk time.
- Trump42.7%122 turns
- Biden39.1%84 turns
- Welker18.2%146 turns
How long each turn ran
Ticks are single turns; boxes span the middle half; the heavy bar is the median.
Every speaker
Show the full speaker table
| Speaker | Role | Turns | Words | Share | Median turn | Longest | Ends on a dash | Reading grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trump | Candidates | 122 | 7,518 | 42.7% | 27 | 394 | 27 | 4.6 |
| Biden | Candidates | 84 | 6,894 | 39.1% | 59 | 360 | 10 | 5.7 |
| Welker | Moderators, panellists and questioners | 146 | 3,200 | 18.2% | 10 | 202 | 36 | 6.5 |
As the 2025 scraper split it
The notebook's own Participants and Moderators fields, reproduced exactly by the TypeScript port.
- Participants
- Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and; President Donald Trump (R)
- Moderators
- No moderators block in this transcript
- Listing date
- October 22, 2020