Axios PM

October 22, 2026
Good Thursday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 589 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
1 big thing: Anti-Trumpism fuels youth vote


Nearly 2 in 3 U.S. adults younger than 30 who plan to vote in the upcoming midterms say their main motivation is to oppose President Trump and his policies, Emily Peck and Margaret Talev report from a new Harvard Youth Poll.
- 77% of respondents disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, including about half of young Republicans.
- Just 9% say the U.S. is headed in the right direction — the lowest in the survey's history.
💸 Topping the list of what young people consider serious threats to their long-term financial security: rising prices and the cost of living (79%), the power of large corporations (68%) and trade wars (68%).
- Nearly half said that their household is struggling to make ends meet or is getting by with limited financial security.


Stunning stat: For the first time in the poll's history, the share of young adults who said they expect to be worse off than their parents (27%) slightly exceeded the share who said they expect to be better off (25%).
- The difference was within the poll's margin of error, but the longer-term trend is striking.
- In the fall of 2021, 39% expected to be better off than their parents, while just 17% expected to be worse off.
2. 👾 Hackers lay dangerous mobile web traps

Hackers are finding new ways to infect iPhones with spyware even without victims clicking a malicious link, Axios' Sam Sabin reports from new research.
🤳 Researchers at iVerify and Report URI say they've uncovered two campaigns in which criminal groups with suspected ties to China exploited online ads and legitimate websites to deliver iPhone spyware.
- In one case, iVerify found that a financial institution employee's iPhone was infected after they scrolled past a pro soccer ad on Instagram. The ad triggered an attack that stole the person's login credentials and searched their cryptocurrency wallets.
- In another, Report URI uncovered a campaign affecting nearly 8,000 legitimate websites after hackers purchased roughly 630 expired domains still used by those sites. The attackers used those domains to redirect vulnerable iPhone visitors toward spyware designed to steal their credentials and cryptocurrency.
⚠️ Experts advise keeping your phone updated, as the attacks exploited flaws in older software versions.
3. ⚡️ Catch me up

- 🌊 President Trump said last night that he would "probably pass" on renaming the Atlantic Ocean after Google CEO Sundar Pichai asked him not to do so. Google Maps and similar services have adopted Trump's rebrandings of the Gulf of Mexico ("Gulf of America") and Lake Ontario ("Lake America") for U.S. users. Go deeper.
- 👩⚖️ A federal judge ordered President Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of one of his speeches. Go deeper.
- 🔓 Governments and companies worked through the night on urgent security updates after the AI-assisted discovery of major flaws in a programming language vital to 70% of global websites. Go deeper.
4. 🐋 1 for the road: A new hope

A new baby orca is making waves among the Pacific Northwest's endangered Southern Resident population, Axios Seattle's Christine Clarridge reports.
- The little guy is the newest offspring of orca J35, who made headlines in 2018 while carrying her dead calf on her head for 17 days.
🐳 Researchers with the Center for Whale Research spotted the newborn swimming alongside his mother Monday and again on Tuesday.
- He appears to be nursing, swimming and socializing well.
Go deeper ... Get Axios Local.
📬 Thanks for reading! Please invite your friends to join PM.
Sign up for Axios PM

