An expert has worked out that Donald Trump's speeches are getting longer as he fends off an ever longer list of enemies.

Brian Ott, a Texas Tech University professor of communications, says the average length of the US president's campaign speeches has increased from 59 minutes in 2016 to 80.7 minutes in 2020.

The professor, who is also co-author of The Twitter Presidency: Donald J Trump and the Politics of White Rage, said: "An overwhelming percentage of his discourse is about attacking others, and he simply has more enemies now.

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"He uses the campaign rallies to air grievances and he's just got more grievances at this point and never lets go of anything."

Mr Trump has been holding a series of rallies as he ramps up his attempt to get re-elected in November.


His increasingly long speeches have proved a tough task for the thousands who queue up to see him speak.

Dozens of people at his most recent speech in North Carolina headed for the exits 20 minutes before the end of his 67-minute speech.

Mr Trump has said that he could be more presidential in his speeches, but chooses not to.

During his presidency, Mr Trump has been forced to fend off attacks from a host of sources.

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Democrats first pinned their hopes on the Mueller investigation into alleged electoral campaign collusion with Russia before aiming to remove him from office by impeaching him.

He has had run-ins with several world leaders, sparked criticism for his trade policies and seen many of his friends and allies tried on a range of charges.

The entertainment world in particular regularly attacks him, with actor Mark Ruffalo among the latest to do so.

He has remained solidly unpopular, compared to previous sitting presidents.

Currently, around 53% disapprove and 43% approve. Even his highest rating (49% approve) was lower than the highest ratings of any of the last 13 presidents.

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And while his Twitter following has grown worldwide, the number of people liking his tweets has slumped from an average of 5.37 per 1,000 followers to 1.29 in February.

Despite that, the election result is not clear cut. While either Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have a small lead over Mr Trump in the polls, which ask how people would vote if an election was held tomorrow, the strength of Mr Trump's support in key areas may mean he could still hang on later this year.

US elections have typically favoured incumbent presidents and many commentators believe this one may be no different.