What people in swing states are talking about on Instagram

Every Tuesday in the run up to the Nov. 3, 2020 election, Mashable will break down the most viral posts about politics on Instagram. Using data from the Facebook-owned analytics service CrowdTangle, we’ll show you the topics and perspectives on Instagram that the most people are talking about and engaging with. Our hope is that this provides a look at what’s dominating the political conversation in social media spaces that you might not see otherwise. 

While it’s clear thathighly emotive, polarizing, and partisan contentprompts Facebook users to click and comment, what makes a post “viral” on Instagram isn’t as well understood. Instagram also has abroad user baseof over 37 percent of U.S. adults, withyoung peopleparticularly engaged. What’s more,researchers saythat Instagram may have played a bigger role in the 2016 election than Facebook for Russian operatives, and predicted that it would be central to similar efforts this fall.

This week in politics, what are people outside of your social media bubble talking about on Instagram? Here’s what you need to know. 

---

Have you run out of nails to chew, hair to tear out? We're one week away from the U.S. election and the stakes are high!

On Instagram this week, celebrities like Selena Gomez continued to post inspiration for their followers to vote, vote, vote! With early voting at record highs, who knows, it could be working!

Other top posters on Instagram included the usual suspects of Biden, Trump, and Fox News.

Selena is queen. Credit: screenshot: rachel kraus / mashable / crowdtangle

The political fever pitch is particularly intense in swing states where politicians are focusing their efforts to snag those contested electoral college votes. Trump and Biden have been circling Pennsylvania, while Obama recently left Pennsylvania for a jaunt to Florida.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Local news outlets in these states have been covering the campaigning and posting about it on Instagram. To see what Instagrammers in swing states are drawn to, here are the top Instagram post from local news in the swing states with the most electoral votes.

Florida - 29 electoral votes

Outrage fueled the top political Instagram post in Florida. A post from Fox-affiliated local news station WSVN depicts a police officer wearing a Trump face mask while at a polling location. After the photo circulated on social media, the officer's department said it would discipline him, since department policy prohibits officers from wearing clothing with political affiliations while in uniform.

While the post got 1,265 likes, it also received 476 comments (including many likes on those comments), some of which criticize the department's decision, claiming the same policy wouldn't be applied if he were wearing a Biden mask, and accusing the department of infringing the officer's freedom of speech.

Pennsylvania - 20 electoral votes

The top Instagram post came from NBC Philadelphia showing a masked Barack Obama bending down to speak to a child while visiting North Philadelphia. It got over 7,300 likes and nearly 300 comments. Most of the top comments on that post lambasted Obama and supported Trump instead. The second most popular post, from 6ABC Action News, featuring Joe Biden and his quote promising to represent all Americans (not just red or blue states), had a similarly contentious comments section.

The top Instagram posts might feature Democratic politicians (with lots of likes), but they drew plenty of hate in the comments.

Georgia - 16 electoral votes

Instagram engagement was generally low for Georgia local media. But the posts that got the most likes and comments were surprisingly civil and neutral. The most popular post, from CBS 46 with 182 likes and 8 comments, shared stats that nearly 2 million people had already voted early. The comments praised the effort and encouraged more voting. The second most popular post, from WTOC 11 with 133 likes and 29 comments, asked followers what they thought of debate moderators muting Trump's and Biden's microphones. The comments ran the gamut from claims that it was totally unfair to Trump, to supporting the idea all around.

Michigan - 16 electoral votes

Democracy's greatest ally in the state of Michigan is the one and only Lizzo. Far and away the most popular Instagram post came from the Detroit News featuring a GIF of the "Juice" singer flipping her hair. The post shared that Lizzo is from Detroit and will be campaigning in the state on behalf of the Biden campaign. It received 78 comments, 1,043 likes, and 9,280 video views.

The second most popular post, a series of images from the same outlet showing Ivanka Trump campaigning in the state on behalf of her father, got 392 likes and 123 comments. The sentiment of most commenters was mostly summed up by the following response from user jasonmckean: "👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻"