A new survey has found that Americans’ faith in the country’s founding promise of the American Dream is at a historic low. Only 38 percent of respondents in a YouGov poll of 1,821 adults believed the American Dream existed for everyone, despite 61 percent saying they still believed in the concept. Fifty-nine percent said it was less attainable than when they were growing up. Almost half believed children today would be worse off than their parents. Only 17 percent said the next generation would be better off. Mark Rank, a professor of social welfare at Washington University, called the results a “quite shocking” break from historical polling, in which two-thirds of Americans typically said they had achieved the ‘Dream’ or expected to. “Wages for full-time male workers have completely flatlined,” he said. “They’re making no more today than they were in 1973, once you control for inflation.” Traci Parker, an associate professor in African-American history at the University of California, Davis, was blunt. “There was this belief that if you worked hard enough, you wouldn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “I think that idea has gone away completely.” Seventy-three percent said they were worried about saving money. Almost half expected a stock market crash this year.
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