What's Resonating: Thursday, October 30th
SNAP, ICE, and a look ahead of Halloween
We’re back with another edition of What’s Resonating – a daily newsletter from the Resonate team that delivers a data-driven snapshot of the stories, trends, and messages shaping online culture and politics.
If you’re not already subscribed, we’d love to have you on the list! For any questions, visit our FAQ page or send us an email.
Now, let’s dive in.
What’s Resonating
Debates on SNAP and food insecurity
ICE encounters
Unrest in Rio
Dancing with the Stars and Halloween
Today’s Deep Dive: Tricks (or Treats?) for posting this Halloween
Today’s Takeaway: This weekend’s impending expiration of SNAP benefits continues to provide the clearest way to reach people online about the government shutdown and its impacts on Americans, and left-leaning pages are leading this conversation. Immigration and community violence, both domestically and in Brazil, continue to break through for pages across political leans, and violence in Israel and Gaza is rising in feeds as well.
However, all of those stories are likely to see less engagement this weekend as audiences tune into Halloween and less political content. See our deep dive below for how best to bridge the gap and maintain engagement as spooky season reaches its peak.
Email users: Click through for the full chart.
Yesterday on Social Media
🟦 Left-leaning accounts
The shutdown and the impending impact on food assistance programs were popular topics for left-leaning pages yesterday:
North Carolina AG Jeff Jackson shared plans to partner with other state AGs to sue the administration for failing to provide SNAP benefits. (4.2 million views across three posts)
Cory Booker shared Jackson’s video directly to his feed. (1.4 million views on two posts, 9x average likes on TikTok)
Creator Millennial Mia posted about the 25 states who have sued over food benefits that are “designed not to fail.” (551,000 views, 35x average likes)
Sen. Patty Murray shared that Democrats tried to pass a standalone bill to fund WIC and SNAP, but Republicans blocked it, and Trump refuses to use emergency funds to keep the program going. (53,000 engagements, 32x average engagements)
Rep. Melanie Stansbury responded directly to Sen. Thune, telling him “American lives are not a political game” and “letting 42 million Americans go without food this weekend … is WRONG and a CHOICE.” (1.1 million views, 14x average engagements)
Courier shared reports of companies announcing massive layoffs as “Trump’s economy craters.” (2.5 million views)
NowThis Impact shared a video of ICE agents beating up a 16-year-old U.S. citizen while using racial slurs. (7.2 million views, 1.2 million likes, 13x average likes, most-liked left-leaning post)
Zohran Mamdani posted a get-out-the-vote video almost entirely in Spanish, including outtakes where he fails at pronunciation. (5.5 million views across two posts, 5x average views on TikTok)
Jimmy Kimmel Live had the most-viewed left-leaning YouTube video including commentary on Trump’s Asia Tour and Jasmine Crockett accepting Trump’s IQ test challenge. (1.3 million views)
🟥 Right-leaning accounts
Top right-leaning posts continued to focus on Trump’s Asia visit:
Fox News reported on Donald Trump receiving South Korea’s “Grand Order of Mugunghwa,” the country’s highest national honor. (7 million views across two posts). The White House posted a video of Air Force One’s escort into South Korea by two Korean and two U.S. F-16s (1.1 million views) and a supercut of the recent naval base visit. (1.2 million views)
The Hodgetwins and Fox News both shared posts on Trump’s “major deal” with South Korea, where the country agreed to “pay” the U.S. $350 billion for lower tariffs, invest $600 billion in U.S. energy, and request U.S. approval to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Focusing on recipients of SNAP benefits was a popular topic for right-leaning pages:
The Donald Trump for President page posted that they would support a mandatory drug test every 90 days for SNAP participants. (213,000 likes, 57x average likes)
Congressman Randy Fine said he would introduce a bill to ban all non-citizens from any form of welfare. (95,000 likes, 16x average engagements)
Matt Walsh posted about his “research,” which suggests “the average EBT recipient spends MORE on non-essential food items than the average person who pays for his own groceries.” (72,000 likes, 3x average engagements)
Fox News shared a post about a teen who claims Christianity is her “whole identity” who won a fight against school officials to include an illustration of a Jesus parable on her parking spot. (397,000 likes, most-liked right-leaning post)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Israel’s latest strikes that killed at least 46 children after the ceasefire were war crimes. (103,000 likes, 7x average engagements)
🟨 Neutral (Political) accounts
[Content Warning: Graphic Images] Reuters shared images from the ongoing conflict between police and local drug cartels in Rio de Janeiro. (43.5 million views, 58x average views, most-liked tracked political post)
Dylan Page also explained how Rio de Janeiro has “turned into a warzone overnight” (6.9 million views), and Sky News posted a video explaining the conflict alongside videos. (5.9 million views, 28x average likes)
Dylan Page shared early reports of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, though he also added that there were no reported casualties yet. (3.1 million views)
The New York Times posted about Israeli strikes that killed at least 100 people in Gaza in a single evening. (3.9 million views, 18x average comments)
CBS News clipped Sen. John Thune blaming Democrats for extending the government shutdown and not funding food assistance programs. (6.2 million views, 6x average views, 12x average comments)
Resonate’s Take: Given the right-wing framing of this clip, we should all be keeping a close eye on CBS News after recent leadership shake-ups.
The New York Times shared a clip where Trump “seemed to concede … that he was not eligible to serve a third term.” (1.9 million views)
🟨 Neutral (Cultural) accounts
Halloween Night performances and behind-the-scenes footage from the Dancing with the Stars cast and contestants were popular on Wednesday.
Creator Prance shared a collab with several other creators where they asked Zohran Mamdani questions, mocking the most common misconceptions about his campaign as part of “The People’s Press Conference.” (1 million views)
Creators continued to share SNAP-related content:
Creator Lylli announced how she would be helping people losing SNAP benefits with all money made by that video, and then mentioned several pop culture and algorithm-friendly topics. (522,000 views, 10x average comments)
Creator Scottykfitness spoke about his brother losing food stamps, along with many other Americans. (707,000 views)
Today’s Analysis: Tricks (or Treats?) for posting this Halloween 🎃
With tomorrow officially starting Halloweekend, we expect high post volume across platforms about the holiday, costumes, and candy. It will be hard to get other topics to break through, so we’re here to discuss how to approach a weekend of spooky cultural content amidst a government shutdown (and a million other political priorities). Halloween kicks off the holiday season, and we know that seasonal and cultural content tends to boost engagement. This weekend is the perfect opportunity to connect with a wider audience and show a fun, relatable side.
To engage on political topics, the key is to use the holiday as a hook to weave in priority issues. Seasonal-themed content tends to resonate with a wider audience, providing an approachable and relatable balance to more serious topics. Some politicians have done this already: Rep. Swalwell (471,000 views and 7x average engagements) and Sen. Klobuchar (6x average engagements) highlighted the rising cost of candy prices as the holiday approached. Rep. Jacobs has also effectively invoked spooky themes across policy topics. Earlier in the month, she posted what is still the top post about the government shutdown from an elected official, featuring the classic flashlight storytelling device, which has 9.3 million views and over-performed by 16x. This post is a case study in good social media practice: it shows that humor and serious policy communication can work well together, providing timely information on a breaking news story in a format that stylistically stood out from the crowd.
To engage culturally with Halloween, the key is to participate authentically, and avoid content that comes off as cringe or performative. Perhaps instead of a Happy Halloween graphic or pumpkin picture on your Instagram, have your principal go out into their neighborhood and show how their community trick or treats, take part in local celebrations, or share pictures of kids or pets in costume. This can also be an opportunity to playfully poke fun at fellow left-leaning figures or create wholesome tributes, like how several Democratic governors last year dressed up as Tim Walz. Given the likely high volume of related posts, this comment might not overperform like a breaking news story does, but this strategy ensures engagement in a cultural conversation that will take over the Internet overall.
Bottom Line: We know what to expect from the Internet this weekend– lots of spooky, fall-themed, and silly content. Halloweekend offers a chance to reach people where they are by leaning into the season’s spirit and embracing authentic, culturally relevant content–while sparingly and creatively tying it back to your priorities.
Email users: Click through for the full chart.