Axios PM

October 02, 2025
Just one more day to go. Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 590 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Carlos Cunha for copy editing.
1 big thing: Media trust hits new low

For the third year in a row, the share of Americans who say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in mass media has fallen to a record low, Axios' Sara Fischer reports from a new Gallup survey.
- Only 28% say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media, down from 68% in 1972.
🗳️ Trump's 2016 election drove a historically wide gap between Democrats' and Republicans' trust in mass media.
- That gap has narrowed, as Americans across the spectrum now report record-low trust.
🧒 A steep fall in trust among partisans and younger people has driven most of the overall decline.
- In the past three years, trust in mass media has fallen by 19 percentage points among Democrats and 6 among Republicans.
- The share of Republicans who say they have "no trust at all" in the media has also risen sharply over the past few years, from less than 30% in 2015 to 62% in 2025.
🗞️ While trust in most civic institutions has fallen over the past two decades, media remains the least-trusted institution measured by Gallup.
2. 🤑 More tariff price hikes coming

Nearly half of big businesses raised prices in the last six months due to tariffs, and a large majority expect to do so in the coming months, Axios' Ben Berkowitz reports from a new KPMG survey.
- 🔥 Tariff-driven inflation once looked like it would be a shock to the economy. Instead, it's become a slow burn with no signs of abating.
📈 By the numbers: 44% of businesses have already increased prices due to tariffs, per the September survey of 300 executives at U.S. companies with over $1 billion in annual revenue.
- Over the next six months, about 40% say they will raise prices as much as 5%. Around 30% say they plan to raise prices 6-15%.
- 😩 Those price increases are helping with — but not eliminating — companies' margin pains as their costs rise.
🧑⚖️ What's next: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a challenge to President Trump's tariff authority in early November.
3. Catch me up
- ✂️ President Trump posted that he's meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought "of PROJECT 2025 Fame" today to discuss "temporary or permanent" cuts to "Democrat Agencies" amid the government shutdown, now on its second day. Go deeper ... What to know about Vought.
- 🕍 An attacker drove a car into people outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, and then stabbed them, killing two and wounding four in what police are calling a Yom Kippur terrorist attack. Get the latest.
- 🚔 FBI director Kash Patel ended the bureau's partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent civil rights group that works with law enforcement against antisemitism and extremism. Go deeper.
- 🌶️ PepsiCo is experimenting with paprika, turmeric and more to maintain the vivid colors of products like Flamin' Hot Cheetos without using artificial dyes. Go deeper.
4. 🍻 1 for the road: D.C.'s shutdown tradition

D.C.-area bars and restaurants are once again offering government shutdown specials, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel reports.
- 💵 Shutdown deals are Washington's silver-lining tradition while hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed or working without pay.
🪪 Many places only give discounts to ID-carrying federal workers.
- But some are opening up deals to all patrons, "because we know a shutdown impacts everyone — looking at YOU law firms, trade associations, D.C. government," as reps from Italian joint Carmine's tell Axios.
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