A new Sunlight Foundation analysis finds the U.S. Congress speaks at nearly a full grade level lower than it did seven years ago.
“Today’s Congress speaks at about a 10.6 grade level, down from a high of 11.5 in 2005. By comparison, the U.S. Constitution is written at a 17.8 grade level, the Federalist Papers at a 17.1 grade level and the Declaration of Independence at a 15.1 grade level. The Flesch-Kincaid test was used to conduct the analysis, which equates higher-grade levels with longer words and longer sentences.”
Also interesting: “Prior to 2005, Republicans on average spoke at a slightly higher grade
level than Democrats. Since then, Democrats have spoken on average at a
slightly higher grade level than Republicans.”
