Only 36 percent of voters still believe in the American Dream, according to a new poll that serves as a damning indictment of the state of the nation under president Joe Biden.
It is a significant drop from 2022, when 68 percent of Americans said they believed that those who work hard will get ahead, according to the new Wall Street Journal/NORC survey.
Meanwhile half of respondents said life in America is worse than it was 50 years ago, compared to just 30 percent who thought it had got better.
When asked if the nation’s economic and political system were ‘stacked against people like me,’ half of respondents agreed and 39 percent disagreed.
The survey shows that Americans are feeling insecure about their prospects to move up the social and economic ladders even after the nation’s post-Pandemic recovery.
Only 36 percent of Americans still believe in the American Dream, according to a new poll
The new numbers are more evidence that Americans are pessimistic about the state of the nation a year before the presidential elections
Women were more uncertain of the American Dream than men, with just 28 percent of female respondents saying they still believed they could get ahead with hard work, compared to 45 percent of men who replied the same.
Young adults also proved to be less confident about the ideal of advancement for hard work; 28 percent of voters under 50 said they still believed in the concept, compared to 48 percent of voters age 65 and older.
The new numbers are more evidence that Americans are pessimistic about the state of the nation a year before the presidential elections.
Earlier this month a poll by democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican polling firm North Star Opinion Research showed similarly grim results for the Biden administration.
Just 14 percent of voters said they think his policies have made them better off, and overall almost 70 percent said Biden’s economic policies had either hurt the US economy or had no impact.
Moreover, 33 percent said they believed the president’s policies had ‘hurt the economy a lot.’
The results come after a series of polls show the president losing to former President Donald Trump, his likely Republican challenger, in the key battlegrounds that could decide the 2024 election.
For its part, the Biden campaign points out the only thing that matters is what voters do at the polling booth and that Democrats scored a slew of victories in elections last week.
And Biden administration officials believe they have a good news story to tell on the economy after reducing inflation from post-pandemic highs of more than nine percent.
The president himself has frequently leaned into ‘Bidenomics’ — his effort to reinvigorate the nation’s industrial sector and create well-paying jobs.
‘When Donald Trump looks at America, he sees a failing nation,’ Biden said during a campaign stop in Chicago on Thursday. ‘When I look at America, I see the strongest economy in the world … leading the world again, the ability to set the world standards.’
Democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican polling firm North Star Opinion Research surveyed 1,004 registered voters nationwide.
Only 26 per cent said Biden’s policies had helped.
When asked what was causing them most financial stress, some 82 percent of those surveyed said price increases.
‘Every group — Democrats, Republicans and independents — list rising prices as by far the biggest economic threat . . . and the biggest source of financial stress,’ said Erik Gordon, a professor at Michigan’s Ross School.
Democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican polling firm North Star Opinion Research surveyed 1,004 registered voters nationwide
‘That is bad news for Biden, and the more so considering how little he can do to reverse the perception of prices before election day.’
The Biden campaign has dismissed bleak polls as nothing but ‘noise’ and pointed to similar negative headlines a year before Barak Obama was reelected president in 2012.
Last week Michael Tyler, Biden-Harris 2024 communications director, circulated a memo after Democrats had a strong set of election results, with the party taking control of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly, holding the governor’s mansion in Kentucky, and with voters in Ohio enshrining a right to abortion.
‘It will be a close election, but this is a president and a team that doesn’t shy away from a fight,’ he wrote.
‘Joe Biden has been counted out time and time again and proved pollsters and pundits wrong. Now is the time to put our heads down, execute, and bring this thing home one year from now.’