As the United States prepares to mark its 250th birthday this week, the Daily Mail surveyed voters about how they view the current state of the American Dream.
The results suggest that, despite widespread concerns, many Americans remain broadly optimistic about the ideal.
According to an exclusive Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, 59 percent of voters said they still believe in the American Dream. However, fewer than one in three said they think it is easier to achieve today than it was for their parents’ generation.
Among Republican respondents, views were sharply divided: 35 percent said the American Dream is easier for them to attain than it was for their parents, while an equal 35 percent said it is harder.
Interviews with voters around the country revealed a more varied picture, with opinions differing by location and personal experience.
In New York City, voters appeared particularly downbeat. One older Democratic man told the Daily Mail last week that he was “not that enthusiastic” about where the American Dream stands today.
Another New York City voter, a middle-aged woman, said Americans may now be dreaming differently: “We have bigger dreams, we have more dreams, now because so many have been taken away.”
In South Carolina, voters who spoke with the Daily Mail expressed a more mixed and measured outlook.
Sean Foulis, a longtime firefighter, spoke with the Daily Mail in Hilton Head, South Carolina
The nation appears to still be overall hopeful about the American Dream, according to a poll
Democratic nominee for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, Mallory Dittmer, 41, noted that ‘the American people are getting left out of the conversation, and the American Dream is for us, not people at the top.’
Eric Graben, a Greenville, South Carolina, attorney in his 60s, said that he doesn’t think the American Dream is dead.
‘I think it’s harder for younger generations,’ Graben added.
Fellow Greenville resident Amber Drummond told the Daily Mail that ‘the American Dream is definitely not dead, the wonderful thing about Democracy is that it’s still evolving.’
That sentiment crossed both geographic and partisan political lines, with Republican Sean Foulis, a longtime James Island, South Carolina firefighter, telling the Daily Mail that the ethos is ‘definitely still alive.’
But he added that it ‘has changed for younger generations – they’ve got a little more work to do to achieve the American Dream.’
Amber Drummond, 43, from Greenville, South Carolina, told the Daily Mail that ‘the American Dream is definitely not dead, the wonderful thing about Democracy is that it’s still evolving’
Respondents to the poll also noted the marker of ‘being able to retire comfortably’ as the point at which someone has ‘made it’ in America, with 23 percent of respondents selecting that option.
Just 1 percent each selected owning a boat, being elected to office, and having a Costco membership as signs of having ‘made it’ in America.
Voters across numerous demographics said that their own generation has had it ‘worst’ living in America.
For younger Americans, affordability is widely viewed as the biggest obstacle to success.
The nationwide online poll of more than 1,000 registered voters was conducted from June 19 to 21.
A Daily Mail/JL Partners poll taken in May found that 59 percent of voters said the economy was getting worse amid the Iran war and inflation.
That is affecting younger Americans, who have had to delay buying a home or starting their families due to rapidly rising prices.
The Trump administration got a much-needed break.
The June poll data found that the number of Americans who believe starting Trump’s war with Iran was wrong is declining, while the number who think it was right is climbing.
In May, 52 percent of voters polled believed launching military action against Iran was wrong. The latest poll found that has come down six points and is now 47 percent of voters.
Meanwhile, 35 percent of voters now say the military operation was the right choice, up from 33 percent a month ago.
In addition, the President’s approval rating ticked up to 47 percent, while his disapproval still hovers at 53 percent.
It is the 80-year-old’s highest approval rating this year, since the end of February, just days before the US launched its war against Iran in conjunction with Israel.
