I AIM for 8 when I write nontech stuff. It’s clear and the majority of people understand it.
I’m tempted to take some Nina Totenberg articles and run them through Word to get a “reading level” on them.
IIRC, 8th grade was the recommended level back when I was writing for corporations (90s-00s)
I sit back, hands folded behind my head, eyes gazing skyward, and wonder: Is this information that will ever penetrate the mental force-fields of the crazed, PDS-suffering, Luddites on the Left?