Shocking number of young Americans no longer believe in the American Dream

Americans are souring on the American Dream­ – young Americans are leading this change. Their attitudes toward the Dream have rapidly declined in just the past few years. This is a problem that is not top of mind for Americans, but that neither party can overlook as we enter the election season. 

As young potential voters turn away from political engagement and are not enthusiastic about either presidential candidate, the party which helps inspire young Americans with policies that support upward mobility and reward ambition is more likely to bring these disaffected voters into the fold.

New data from the Pew Research Center just found that two-thirds of Americans (67%) believe they have either achieved the American Dream (31%) or are on their way to achieving it (36%) while almost a third (30%) of Americans believe that the Dream is out of reach for them. In 2017, barely 1 in 5 adults (17%) stated that the Dream was out of reach and 82% believed they were on their way or had achieved the Dream. These changes are startling.

Young people are more likely to doubt that anyone can achieve success and mobility in the U.S. through hard work and determination. (Mickey Strider/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

We should be concerned that the percentage of Americans who feel the American Dream is out of reach has doubled in under a decade, but more worrisome is the generational discord on the American Dream.

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In 2017, Pew found that Gen Zs and Millennials were very optimistic about their futures with 87% of Gen Z respondents and 91% of Millennials respondents believing that they had achieved or were well on their way to achieving the Dream. 

Just about 10% of each cohort believed that the Dream was out of their reach in 2017. Older cohorts believed that the Dream was out of reach for them, as they had a more definite sense of their life’s trajectory.

Seven years later – with the election only months away – attitudes toward the American Dream look far worse by approximated generation cohort in the 2024 Pew data. 

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Almost a quarter (23%) of Boomers and Silents, respectively, believe that the Dream is out of their reach. Gen Z and Millennials, however, have turned negative on their futures. In just seven years, those in Gen Z are now three times more likely to report that the American Dream is out of reach, jumping from 11% in 2017 to 36% in 2024. 

The number of Millennials who report that the American Dream is out of reach nearly quadrupled, from 9% in 2017 to 35% in 2024. Younger Americans are unmistakably less optimistic or confident they will be able to live their American Dream as they recently were.

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Some of the main concerns of voters in November – inflation, labor dynamics, immigration, and questions on issues like abortion and climate – certainly impact their perception of the American Dream.

Many younger Americans are indeed having trouble finding the jobs and careers that they want as well as affording homes and paying their bills. They worry about government instability, polarization, along with its clear dysfunction such as its troubling mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These real and practical economic and political problems have grown in potency in the past seven years and have undeniably played a role in young Americans’ changing perspective on the American Dream. However, another critical component to this attitude change, notably among young cohorts of Americans, involves a pervasive philosophical change as well: 

Many younger Americans are coming of age in a social and academic environment that is antithetical to the core tenant of the American Dream. Young people are now more likely to doubt that anyone can achieve success and mobility in the United States through hard work and determination.

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Merit and excellence have been replaced by identity politics and a fixation on the binary of oppressor and oppressed. The dangerous principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion have become prevalent throughout campuses and boardrooms and young Americans have seen the power and prevalence of these ideas – ideas that have eroded the belief in American opportunism. 

Young Americans have seen that DEI principles do not encourage progress or growth. DEI proponents see hard work and competition as regressive, and reject and vilify hard work, merit, family, and the dignity of the individual.

If our students and younger cohorts of Americans have seen DEI’s real impacts, are regularly divided by identity, are subjected to different opportunities due to immutable characteristics, and are being told only particular types of people can receive particular markers of success regardless of how hard one works or one’s qualifications – the American Dream dies.

The American Dream has long been an ethos that has anchored our nation, spurred innovation, and improved the quality of life for countless numbers of people. We became a shining beacon free of limiting structures because the Dream represented the idea that we had control over our future and the ability to make choices about how to work and live life. 

Younger Americans now feel that this Dream is slipping for them, and politicians across the political spectrum are not taking this seriously. Our nation’s very character is now at risk, and we cannot ignore this new reality; we must make a concerted effort to reaffirm our commitment to these core American values and take steps to ensure that we keep the American Dream alive for all.

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Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.