Faith in American dream dwindles amid sour economic sentiments, poll finds

A recent Wall Street Journal-NORC poll of adults in the U.S. revealed widespread sour economic sentiments, with just 31% indicating that they think the American dream — that a person can get ahead by working hard — remains true.

A whopping 46% indicated that they believed it previously held true but no longer does, while 23% indicated that the idea of the American dream never held true. The nearly 70% of individuals taking those views marks the greatest level in nearly 15 years of polls, according to the Journal.

The survey of adults conducted between July 10-23, 2025 has an “overall margin of sampling error is +/- 3.39 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, including the design effect,” the study methodology section of the survey notes.

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Many people are concerned about the cost of groceries, with 28% extremely concerned about food prices, 28% very concerned, and 30% somewhat concerned, while just 10% were not very concerned and just 4% had no concern about the issue.

While 66% in the survey indicated that they have shifted to cheaper products to cut grocery store costs in the last year, just 33% indicated that they have not done so. 

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Only a quarter of those surveyed agreed that people like them and their family have a good shot of increasing their standard of living — just 6% strongly agreed, while 19% somewhat agreed, 23% strongly disagreed and 19% somewhat disagreed, and 32% did not agree or disagree. The 25% statistic of those indicating they have a good chance of bettering their living standard marked a record low for polls dating to 1987, the Journal reported.

A large majority of those surveyed indicated that, in comparison to their parents’ generation, it has become more difficult to purchase a home. 

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While 58% indicated that it is now much harder to buy a home, 23% felt that it is a little more difficult, 2% thought it is much easier, 5% felt it is a bit easier, and 11% did not see any difference in home-buying difficulty.