“Taxes,” “insulin” and “jobs” were among the most common words from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
Whitmer’s 25-minute speech hit on a slew of topics, but some were more prominent than others. MLive analyzed a transcript of the speech to dissect the themes, and 43 words were used five or more times – not counting words like “and,” “the” and “but.”
The visualization above shows the most common words, sized relative to how often they were used. “Michigan” was the top word with 25 references.
MORE: Whitmer highlights road repairs, investments in education during State of the State address
Among the most-used words were many harmonious and agreeable terms, like “together,” “families,” “believe” and “future.” This is Whitmer’s fourth State of the State address, and final one before November’s election for governor.
Here are the notable words used five or more times in the speech.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
The trends largely align with the themes of Whitmer’s speech – cutting taxes, making insulin cheaper, making electric vehicles more affordable and investing in mental health.
Which words were absent/less present?
Other topics were less prevalent in Whitmer’s speech.
Despite COVID-19 still wreaking havoc in Michigan, Whitmer only mentioned the words “COVID,” “COVID-19″ and “pandemic” a combined five times. Whitmer said “vaccines” once, but only in the context of their successes in 2021. Booster shots weren’t mentioned at all.
In Whitmer’s 2021 speech, she said those words a combined 39 times. At the time, Michigan was at the end of its second restaurant dine-in ban, vaccines were just beginning to roll out and Michigan had far fewer COVID-19 cases than it has now.
She said “bipartisan” six times in Wednesday’s address, while only uttering “Democrats” and “Republicans” twice each. “Bipartisan” was one of the top words in her 2021 address as well, with 12 mentions.
“Michigander” had 16 references, while “Michiganian” wasn’t used once.
There also weren’t many references to specific Michigan cities. “Detroit,” “Lansing,” and “Marquette” each had two references.
Education and schools have been a hot topic nationally and in Michigan. The words “education,” “school” and “schools” received a combined nine references.
“Inflation” was mentioned once. “Economy” was said four times after being mentioned 17 times in her 2021 speech.
Neither “Trump” nor “Biden” was uttered. Other national topics like racial justice and election reform/voting rights weren’t mentioned either.
“General Motors” was one of the only businesses mentioned by name, as Whitmer touted the company’s $7 billion investment announced on Tuesday into Michigan plants. She didn’t bring up the $824 million contribution the state is giving GM for the projects.
“Road” and “roads” were mentioned a combined five times – including one “fixing the damn roads” reference.
MORE: Michigan Republicans outline legislative goals ahead of Whitmer’s State of the State address
To view the full speech, see the video below or click here.
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