Uncivil Name-Calling in the U.S. Presidency, 1933–2018

Abstract

Political incivility in the United States is a growing concern among both citizens and scholars. Prior research focusing on incivility among political elites has largely neglected the presidency, however. Thus, popular claims that Donald Trump is particularly uncivil have not yet been subjected to empirical scrutiny vis-à-vis presidential norms. The present study undertakes a large-scale quantitative content analysis of modern presidential communication to provide insight into one key form of incivility: name-calling. We find that uncivil name-calling is generally rare in the presidency, and that three presidents—Harry S. Truman, George H. W. Bush, and especially Donald Trump—are outliers in the frequency with which they employ this form of communication.