Pew Research Center
“Most think the American dream is within reach for them.”
By Samantha Smith
October 31, 2017
Despite persistently low levels of public satisfaction with the
state of the nation, most Americans say they have achieved the
“American dream” or are on their way to achieving it. Only
about one-in-five (17%) say the American dream is “out of
reach” for their family.
The American dream means different things to different people,
however. Far fewer Americans say “becoming wealthy” is
essential to the American dream than say the same about
personal freedom and a good family life.
Overall, 36% of U.S. adults say their family has achieved the
American dream, while another 46% say they are “on their way”
to achieving it, according to an August survey by Pew Research
Center. (The survey asked people about the “American dream,”
as they define it.) People who say they have already achieved
the American dream are generally older, more affluent and
better-educated than those who say they are on their way to
achieving the American dream and those who say it’s out of
reach.
Whites (41%) are more likely than blacks (17%) or Hispanics
(32%) to say they have achieved the American dream. But more
blacks (62%) and Hispanics (51%) than whites (42%) say they

are on their way to achieving it. Notably, there are no
significant racial or ethnic differences in the shares who say the
American dream is out of reach for their families.
The partisan differences in impressions of whether people have
reached the American dream are relatively modest: 41% of
Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they have
achieved it, compared with 32% of Democrats and Democratic
leaners.
Freedom of choice, family widely viewed as essential elements
of American dream
While people differ on the meaning of the American dream,
very few – just 11% of the public – say “being wealthy” is
essential to their own view of it.
By contrast, majorities say “freedom of choice in how to live”
(77%), having a good family life (70%) and retiring comfortably
(60%) are essential to their view of the American dream.
Smaller shares say making valuable community contributions
(48%), owning a home (43%) and having a successful career
(also 43%) are essential to their view of the American dream,
but relatively few (no more than 9%) say these
are not important to the American dream.
However, 40% say being wealthy is not important in their vision
of the American dream, by far the highest share among the
seven items asked about.
There are modest educational differences in attitudes about
what is essential to the American dream. For example, 87% of
those with at least a four-year college degree say freedom of
choice in how to live is essential, as do 82% of those with some
college experience. By comparison, a smaller majority (65%) of
those with no more than a high school diploma say this.
And while 15% of those with a high school education or less say

becoming wealthy is essential to the American dream, fewer of
those with college experience say the same (8% of college
graduates and 9% of those with some college experience).
Partisanship is not a major factor in these views. Across all
items, there are modest or no partisan differences in views of
what is essential to the American dream.
Forbes
“Why Most People Will Never Achieve the American Dream”
By Glenn Llopis
September 3, 2012
What is the American Dream? How does one define it today
and what is the path to earn it? This is an active conversation at
the dinner table, and amongst friends, business leaders and
entrepreneurs. We have certainly heard this question numerous
times during the Presidential campaign and both candidates
have yet to help America understand what this nebulous term
really means.
People are hurting and as the pain grows, sharing it with others
becomes more common. As such, leaders across the private and
public sectors must come together and play a larger role to help
define the new American Dream. When today’s leaders are
forced to touch the business just as much as they lead it, they
begin to understand the struggles that people face and the
reality of how difficult it is to create and sustain
momentum. Leaders are now getting their hands dirty and are
much more aware of how difficult it is to achieve anything that
is purposeful and that matters.
On the other hand, these same leaders know that the rules of
business and societal engagement are evolving rapidly. As

such, this requires 1) a new approach to build trust, 2) relevancy
to create meaningful relationships, and 3) an almost flawless
track-record to be considered for a loan or an investment to be
made in a particular opportunity. This is why we speak of the
new American Dream. Unlike the past, when all you needed
was a college degree to increase your chances of achieving the
dream – today much more is required for you to even be
considered to earn the right to pursue the dream.
Leaders must remind themselves and advise others that to
achieve the new American Dream requires one thing that is
certain: you must balance knowledge (the head) with wisdom
(the heart). It’s no longer just about what you know, but what
you do with what you know. In the new American economy,
it’s about transparency, trust, opening up your heart and leading
with kindness. Why do you think that so many American’s
reacted most favorably to Ann Romney’s speech at the
Republican convention?
The new American Dream is no longer about pursuing
opportunity – but learning how to earn the right to both see it
and seize it. Today, the real opportunities are hidden. They
hide behind doors that only a combination of knowledge and
wisdom can earn. Opportunity is the true mother of success and
for too many years, access to it has been made too easy and thus
abused by greed and distrust. The new American Dream
requires you to earn opportunity. This doesn’t mean that you
will be able to seize it – it takes time to have a seat at the table
– but you must get the conversation started.
This is what most people don’t understand about the new ground
rules and what leaders must learn and then be more deliberate
about teaching others. Opportunity in the past was available
for those who could see it. Today, it you must be able to
successfully navigate yourself “through a filter” that earns you
the right to be considered for the opportunity. This filter
evaluates how effectively you manage your knowledge and
wisdom equally.
Unfortunately, many people in America still believe that

government will solve their problems or that big business will
fuel the economy in a way that gets us back to normal. What
used to be defined as normal – those days are gone. Long gone.
And I am deeply concerned for those that still believe they can
exist. Today, history is being written and we are all learning
from the modern-day innovators who have redefined how to
pursue the new American Dream rightly (e.g., Steve Jobs, Bill
Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Howard Schultz and
Richard Branson).
In the past, government and big business could serve as both
providers and enablers for opportunity. Today, we are fortunate
if either of these groups can consistently provide any real
opportunities – and if they can, they certainly are no longer
capable of enabling it for you. That’s no longer their
responsibility (and the truth is – it never was). When the
economy was strong, it appeared as if that both of these groups
were enabling opportunity when in reality they were just
providing more resources than usual to make it easier for people
to reach some level of success. Were we living in an artificial
reality? This is why there is much more discussion these days
around why people need to have a much more entrepreneurial
attitude in order to create their own success.
The American Dream of the past inspired hope and optimism.
When you could believe that anything was possible, it became
easier to dream. While I wholeheartedly encourage people to
continue dreaming (and dream big), you must be aware that the
infrastructure and resources of the past are either gone, much
more difficult to access, or in the process of being recreated to
support the new ground-rules previously mentioned. As such,
earning the right to pursue an opportunity has now become not
only a responsibility, but requires a set of skills that must be
learned in order to properly seize opportunity and keep
momentum alive.
In 2009, I launched my first book, Earning Serendipity – 4
Skills for Creating and Sustaining Good Fortune in Your Work.
At the time of the book’s release, I thought it was a message

that America’s corporations and its leaders were not ready to
accept, but should be considering. In fact, the title was changed
a few times until I realized that earning serendipity was the best
representation of what America and the workplace had forgotten
to do over the course of the past decade. When our economic
bubble inflated and lines of credit were easy to obtain, people
became self-satisfied, grew lazy and lost their hunger to
compete.
Earning serendipity was a term I coined to represent opportunity
mastery, innovation, humanity; what diversity could do for
business, personal reinvention, your legacy, the spirit of giving
and the urgency of now! It was the introduction to the
immigrant mentality advantage.
It’s now 2012, and the need for everyone to earn serendipity is
greater than ever. It’s a time when the pursuit for opportunity
is no longer a commodity, but a precious and valuable jewel
that is only available for those who rightly earn it.
Condoleezza Rice eloquently said just as much during her
keynote address at the Republican National Convention:
“It does not matter where you came from. It matters where you
are going. We have never been envious of each other’s
successes. Ours has been a belief in opportunity. No country
can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves. Greatness
is built on mobilizing opportunity. You can control your
response to your circumstances.”
What is your plan of action? Whatever it is, balance the head
and the heart. Earn serendipity.