A survey of 2,501 people conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute twelve years ago found more than half of respondents believed the American dream “still holds true,” but now only a third feel that way, according to a recent WSJ/NORC poll of 1,502 adults. The study also found an increasingly large gap between people’s economic goals and what they think is actually attainable — a trend that was consistent across gender and party lines, but was especially common amongst younger generations.

“Key aspects of the American Dream seem out of reach in a way that they were not in past generations,” Emerson Sprick, an economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told the WSJ.

The American Dream Feels Out of Reach for Most

A Wall Street Journal poll shows people want a home, a family and a comfortable retirement, but say those goals are tough to achieve even with hard workhttps://t.co/Chr1Ix7bQW

— Anthony LaMesa (@ajlamesa) August 28, 2024

The decline in faith in the American Dream coincides with a decline in the share of Americans who believe homeownership and financial security are attainable, the poll shows. Only 10% of respondents to the WSJ poll believed becoming a homeowner is “easy or somewhat easy,” despite 89% of respondents viewing homeownership as “essential or important to their vision of the future.” […]

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