The American Dream is America’s Political Common Ground
By: Gonzalo Schwarz
A recent survey by the Archbridge Institute on the state and health of the American Dream found most Americans believe the American Dream is alive and well. These findings support a hopeful and inclusive narrative that if often lacking in our media and political discourse.
The American Dream Snapshot is an annual survey that asks a diverse, representative group of Americans about their views of the American Dream and what it means to them. In 2022, eight out of ten Americans said they have either achieved the American Dream or are on their way to achieving it. Only two in ten believe the dream is out of reach. When asked what items are essential for the American Dream, most people valued freedom of choice on how to live (83%) and having a good family life (79%). Becoming wealthy was selected by just one in ten Americans, and only half of respondents thought owning a home was essential to the American Dream. These results were consistent across age, levels of education, income, and race/ethnicity.
In addition to these measures, we compared the results across the political spectrum. The survey asked participants to self-identify as liberal (very or somewhat), moderate, or conservative (very or somewhat. The findings based on political affiliation are summarized in the figures below.
Table 1. To what extent do you believe your family has achieved the American Dream?
Regardless of ideology, people across the political spectrum are positive about the American Dream. Liberals are slightly more pessimistic, with 24% of them saying the American Dream is out of reach compared to 17% of moderates and conservatives. However, that still means at least 75% of liberals, moderates, and conservatives are optimistic, believing they have either achieved or are on their way to achieving the American Dream.
The following questions seek to measure whether people view specific achievements as essential, important but not essential, or not important for the American Dream. The results are shown in Tables 2, 3, and 4.
Table 2. Percent of Americans who say the following is essential for the American Dream
Table 3. Percent of Americans who say the following is important but not essential for the American Dream
Table 4. Percent of Americans who say the following is not important for the American Dream
Again, we see a trend of hope, unity, and optimism surrounding the American Dream, regardless of political affiliation. Notably, this vision values measures of purpose and meaning above material pursuits. Even though material success could be a necessary pre-condition for achieving those goals, most people do not view becoming wealthy as essential to the American Dream. In fact, becoming wealthy is the only item reported as “not important” by more than 10% of respondents.
Although statements such as “freedom of choice” and “having a good family life” likely mean different things to different people, the American Dream can still unify us in our diversity. We can think about common threads that resonate with people across the political spectrum, such as freedom, aspiration, overcoming obstacles, purpose, and hard work. The American Dream can reduce polarization and offer a unifying and hopeful narrative for all Americans to embrace.
Gonzalo Schwarz is the Founder and CEO of the Archbridge Institute, a Washington, D.C. based public policy think tank focused on removing barriers to human flourishing.
Note on the survey data and methodology: For this survey, we partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago and its AmeriSpeak® panel. AmeriSpeak® is a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US household population. Randomly selected US households are sampled using area probability and address-based sampling, with a known, nonzero probability of selection from the NORC National Sample Frame. The nationally representative sample consisted of 2,073 respondents, with 494 identifying as liberal, 998 identifying as moderate, and 553 identifying as conservative. The survey was conducted May 26–31, 2022.
