@yunggeeski — 80x breakout

Loading video…

Trump vs. Biden: Who Actually Had More Inflation?

@yunggeeski

22.6K followers · usually 8.9K views a post

Views

685.4K

Likes

26.5K

Comments

1.6K

1.9K

Why it worked

The video leverages a highly polarized political topic and presents it as a simple, objective data visualization, which naturally drives high engagement and debate in the comments section.

Summary

This video displays an animated line chart comparing the cumulative inflation rates during the first 19 months of the Biden, Trump II, and Trump I administrations. The chart tracks the seasonally adjusted CPI-U index to visualize the economic data over time.

Structure

1Introduction of the inflation comparison chart
2Animation of inflation growth over 19 months
3Final display of cumulative inflation percentages

On-screen text

Trump vs. Biden: Who Actually Had More Inflation? Cumulative change in seasonally adjusted CPI-U through Month 19. Month 0 Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 7 Month 8 Month 9 Month 10 Month 11 Month 12 Month 13 Month 14 Month 15 Month 16 Month 17 Month 18 Month 19

Original caption

Apparently I’m a Biden supporter when one chart annoys Republicans and a Trump supporter when the next annoys Democrats. The chart is much less exciting than the comments will be: First 19 months, cumulative CPI inflation: Biden: 12.34% Trump II: 4.76% Trump I: 3.30% COVID absolutely matters as context. Pandemic supply disruptions, labor constraints, demand shifts, fiscal support, and monetary policy all contributed to the inflation surge. But the chart does not claim any president single-handedly caused the number beside his face. If you spend 30 minutes arguing with strangers because you inferred “Trump good” or “Biden bad” from a CPI chart, that conclusion belongs to you. Your time might produce a slightly better return invested in your own earning power. Political charts remain the internet’s most efficient machine for converting three colored lines into several hundred furious dissertations. Follow @yunggeeski for more data visualizations. Sources: BLS; FRED CPIAUCSL. #Inflation #Economy #Trump #Biden #Data