American Dream Poll Finds 51 Percent See It Out of Reach
A CNBC/SurveyMonkey American Dream Pulse Survey of 4,130 U.S. adults found that 51 percent said the american dream is out of reach for most people. The May 6–11 poll also found 45 percent said it is achievable only for some, while 6 percent said it remains within reach for everyone.
Those results land as households keep facing costs that respondents named again and again. Roughly four in five cited the cost of living as a major obstacle, about three in five pointed to housing costs, and nearly half named healthcare expenses. Many also blamed low wages.
Elizabeth Suhay on Mobility
Elizabeth Suhay, a political scientist at American University, said Americans today are “less likely to believe the American economy is meritocratic, that it is fair, that it delivers economic success to a typical hardworking person, [and] that lower-income people can work their way up” than people in previous decades. She also said, “The American Dream depends on what you earn, and also how much things cost.”
Suhay said, “All of this feeds into the increasing pessimism about whether the American Dream is available to most Americans.” Her comment tracks with the poll’s split: a clear majority saying the dream is out of reach, and only a small share saying it is available to everyone.
Costs Facing Households
Inflation climbed to 3.8 percent in April, while the national average price for regular gas rose above $4.50 a gallon. In seven states, gasoline averaged more than $5 per gallon.
Those price levels help explain why cost questions sit near the center of the poll. The survey’s answers place housing, healthcare and everyday living expenses ahead of any single policy debate, with affordability showing up as the immediate issue for respondents.
White House Housing Push
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump has taken “significant action to improve housing affordability” and “will not stop fighting,” adding that the goal is to make the dream “within reach for every American.”
Ingle pointed to an executive order blocking large Wall Street firms from buying single-family homes and a directive for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds. The poll gives that effort a political backdrop: 70 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, while 22 percent approve.
For readers, the takeaway is direct: the biggest obstacle named in the survey is not a single event but the price of getting by, especially housing and daily expenses. Until those costs ease, the poll suggests many Americans will keep seeing mobility as a shrinking path rather than a broad one.
