A new poll has found most U.S. adults agree hard work no longer guarantees economic gain, crushing the long-held cultural belief known as the American dream.
There is a running joke on TikTok, which is predominantly used by younger adults, that the Baby Boomer generation is now able to sell their homes for millions after buying them with a handful of raspberries.
This sentiment rang true in a recent survey from The Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago, as well as in interviews conducted by the publication. A majority of respondents said the prior generation had an easier time buying a home, starting a business or being a full-time parent.
Nearly 70 percent of people in the poll said they believe the American dream — an idea that, no matter who you are or where you are from, if you work hard enough, you will achieve your goals in America — is no longer true or never was.
The number of people who believe the American dream is dead is the highest it’s been in nearly 15 years of surveys, according to the WSJ.
The poll was fittingly published on Labor Day, a federal holiday that celebrates the social and economic achievements of American workers.
In an X post Monday, the White House shared a clip of President Donald Trump’s “11 life-changing lessons,” which included a good work ethic and a belief in the American Dream.
But only 25 percent of people in the WSJ-NORC poll believe they have a good chance of improving their standard of living, a historic low in surveys dating to 1987, according to the publication.
“There’s limits to what hard work can actually bring people these days,” Bill Sanchez, a 30-year-old criminal defense attorney and Army veteran who makes roughly $72,000 a year living in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, told the WSJ.
Jerry Esch, a 56-year-old from Windsor, Colorado, was making roughly $200,000 a year before he was laid off this summer after working at Microsoft for 20 years. He and his wife still have a mortgage to pay off.
Esch said salaries haven’t risen with “ridiculous” home prices. “How we address that is the biggest thing in fixing that American dream,” he said.
On Monday, protesters gathered at hundreds of events across the country to not only support workers but also to denounce the Trump administration.
Demonstrators protested against issues including the president’s mass immigrant deportations and government spending cuts made by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, The New York Times reported.
