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- Financial Times
- Free trade approval polarization
Free trade approval polarization
Financial Times's line chart drew 1.5M views on X: 3.4x its typical post and #8 of 25 Financial Times charts we track by views. Read Oct 10, 2026.
Negative partisanship is a helluva drug:
Why it spread
This post spread because it paired a sharp negative partisanship framing with a clear line chart showing American attitudes toward free trade rapidly polarizing by ideology, drawing 4,623 likes, 789 reposts, 328 quotes, 976 saves, and 1,544,068 views.
What worked
- The post text uses a memorable hook about negative partisanship and a simple before and after contrast that makes the polarization story easy to grasp.
- The line chart directly shows the rapid divergence in views on free trade by ideology, which matches the post text and gives the claim visual proof.
- The post comes from an independent author in data journalism with a branded chart and a visible source line, and it landed in the top quarter for both source reach and quote rate, helping it travel through quotes and saves.
What to borrow
We could use the same form by taking a topic where two groups used to agree and showing a line chart of how their views split over time, with a short, punchy caption that names the pattern without overexplaining.
Careful
Do not copy the exact framing as if it proves a universal law, and do not over read the quote rate or source reach as a guarantee of success, since the numbers here describe one post and not a repeatable formula.
Written by our analysis model from the measured numbers above, not by Financial Times.
Make it yours
Your numbers, in this line chart.
Starts from the real numbers of "American attitudes towards free trade have rapidly polarised" by Financial Times. Replace every number with yours before you post. Make one like this, step by step
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API · Max
Use this chart via API
On the Max plan you can pull this chart's numbers with the provenance of each one, as JSON or CSV, with its redraw spec, or call it from an agent over MCP. Chart id 8dbf94d5db32.
| Path | Returns | Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GET | /api/v1/charts/8dbf94d5db32 | Title, publisher, date, form, point count; with a Max key, the data link | Open |
| GET | /api/v1/charts/8dbf94d5db32/data | Every point with its provenance and confidence, plus the redraw spec. Add ?format=csv for CSV | Max |
| GET | /api/v1/charts/8dbf94d5db32/render?view=1 | The draw-only view this page uses | Open |
| POST | /mcp | Tool get_chart_data with this id, for Claude, Cursor and other agents | Max |
curl -s https://viral-chart.com/api/v1/charts/8dbf94d5db32/data \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VIRALCHART_KEY"claude mcp add --transport http viralchart https://viral-chart.com/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $VIRALCHART_KEY"60 requests a minute per key; over that you get 429 with Retry-After. Up to 5 keys per account, made on your account page and shown once. Without Max, the data route answers 402 with a link to the plans. The numbers describe a chart its publisher owns, and every file carries a license note.
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Questions people ask
How far did Financial Times's "Free trade approval polarization" chart travel?
1,544,068 views, 4,623 likes, 789 reposts and 976 saves on X, read Oct 10, 2026. A normal post from @jburnmurdoch gets about 455K views.
What kind of chart is it?
A line chart. American attitudes towards free trade have rapidly polarized by ideology.
Can I use Financial Times's chart?
Use the format, not the picture. The chart, logo and design belong to Financial Times. ViralChart redraws the chart type with your numbers and words, and credits the original publisher.