Just a little more than a third of US voters believe the American dream, which holds that those who work hard can get ahead regardless of background, is still possible, according to a new poll.
A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll from October found that 36% of voters said the American dream “still exists,” 45% said it “once was true but not now,” and 18% said it “never happened.”
Half of American voters also believe life in the US is worse than it was half a century ago, while 30% disagree and say it has improved over that time, the survey showed.
Similarly, half of respondents agreed with the statement that the American economic and political system is “rigged against people like me,” compared to 39% who disagreed with the statement.
Fewer than a third of US voters believe the American dream, which holds that those who work hard can rise to the top, is possible. Karen Roach – stock.adobe.com
That sentiment cut across partisan lines, with both Democrats and Republicans calling life “objectively worse” and the American dream becoming “a thing of the past,” according to pollsters who spoke to the Journal.
“We have a nice house in the suburbs, and we have a two-car garage,” Oakley Graham, a 30-year-old stay-at-home father from Greenwood, Mo., who voted for President Biden, told the outlet. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that money is tight.”
“[N]o matter how good it looks on the outside, I think we’re all a few paychecks away from being on the street,” he added, blaming in part the decline of strong US labor unions.
A Wall Street Journal/NORC poll in October found that 36% of voters said the American dream “still happens,” 45% said it “used to be true but not now,” and 18% said it “never happened.”kieferpix – stock.adobe. com
Meanwhile, John Lasher, a 78-year-old retired electrical inspector for aircraft carriers and submarines and a supporter of former President Donald Trump from Springfield, Mo., blamed Biden and his administration for rising inflation when he spoke to the Journal.
“With inflation, you work hard just to make ends meet, and then any extra work you do is just trying to get by so you’re not in the hole,” he said, also mentioning that in the past “if you showed up for work and you do your job well and you try to help, you are rewarded.”
Diana Walker, a 62-year-old African American from suburban Atlanta, also told the outlet that her children “have not been rewarded,” and that things were “better” for her growing up.
The sentiment cut across partisan lines, with both Democrats and Republicans calling life “objectively worse” and the American dream becoming “a thing of the past,” according to voters.Vasyl – stock.adobe.com
“I’m African-American, and the odds have always been against black people,” he added.
The unemployment rate for black Americans hit a record low of 5% in April.
The poll revealed 68% of black American voters said that economic and political forces are “stacked against” them. About half of Hispanic and white voters said the same.
Responses to the poll were further divided along gender lines, with 28% of female voters and 46% of male voters saying the American dream is still alive.
Age differences also emerged, with 48% of voters aged 65 and over believing in the potential to get ahead through hard work, while 28% of voters under the age of 50 agreed.
The unemployment rate for black Americans hit a record low of 5% in April.Shutterstock
A recent poll found 48% of voters believed in the American dream in 2016 — and 53% did in 2012.
But in a slightly different vein, a 2022 Journal poll found 68% of registered US voters agreed when asked whether hard-working Americans are likely to prosper.
Inflation outpaced wage increases in 2021 and 2022, but could reverse by the end of the year. Mortgage rates have also reached their highest level since 2000.
However, the percentage of US voters who currently rate the economy as “excellent” or “good” has doubled since last May, the survey found, as those who rate it “not so good” or “poor” fell from 83% to 65%. % in the same period.
The Journal-NORC poll, conducted from October 19-24, surveyed 1,163 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
