Axios C-Suite: What Jim learned for the week of May 2
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
🇮🇱 Israel's fall: It will be virtually impossible for a Democrat to win the 2028 nomination without being an Israel skeptic. The shift is swift, shocking and already priced in by every serious contender.
- 40 of 47 Senate Democrats voted to block arms sales to Israel last month. Every Democratic senator seriously rumored to be eyeing the White House — Mark Kelly, Cory Booker, Elissa Slotkin, Ruben Gallego, Jon Ossoff, Chris Murphy — voted yes.
- 80% of Democrats now view Israel unfavorably, up from 53% in 2022, per Pew. The number is even higher (84%) among Dems under 50, the primary '28 electorate.
- Among "very liberal" voters, Israel polls worse than China and Iran — only 14% favorable, 70% unfavorable, according to Echelon Insights.
- J Street — the progressive pro-Israel group — just called to end U.S. funding for Israel's missile defense after 2028.
🙉 Artificial ignorance: Dem and GOP lawmakers who study and understand AI are horrified how little most of their colleagues know — and seem to care — about the technology. Many don't allow staff to even use it.
- They offer three reasons for the unfamiliarity: no real action on serious AI bills; hearing only complaints about it from voters back home; and general tech naivety, a permanent condition of an aging Congress.
📉 Vibe shift: American workers and consumers are cracking simultaneously — and the data is historic.
- The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment just hit its lowest point in 70+ years of tracking.
- The New York Fed found worker satisfaction with wage compensation and promotion opportunities at their worst since the survey launched in 2014.
- 55% of Americans told Gallup their finances are worsening, outpacing both the 2008 financial crisis and peak-COVID.
👀 Future foretold: This vignette from the New York Times, relevant to the CEO political troubles ahead that I wrote about last week, is worth remembering:
- A top-performing ad tested by a top Dem pollster simply declared: "We make the corporations and billionaires who profit from AI pay their fair share." The ad concludes: "They work for the bots. We work for you."
📈 If you're a CEO or on a CEO's team: Ask to join Jim's new weekly Axios C-Suite newsletter.
