The pollsters at Gallup have identified a clear and perhaps discouraging trend among American dreamers: Since 2001, the belief that this is the land of opportunity has tumbled 17 percent.
This trend began to appear even before the recession—in fact, in the heady days just before it – when everyone believed that they could own a home as long as they could sign their name to a piece of paper.
But this trend emerged clearly during the recession, and hasn't come close to bouncing back to 2001's level.
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The pollsters have asked every year since 2001 if they're satisfied with their chances of getting ahead in America by working hard.
In 2001, 76 percent of those polled said they were very or somewhat satisfied with living in the land of opportunity. In 2002, that inched up to 77 percent. A gradual decline dropped the trend line to 70 percent by 2007; the responses hit a low of 53 percent in 2012. Since then, the satisfaction rating has moved up to this year's 60 percent, and that was up from 54 percent last year as the economy began to rev up again.
Gallup also asked people if they thought the distribution of wealth was fair. Not so much.
"A little less than a third (31 percent) of Americans are dissatisfied with both the opportunity to move up and the current system of income and wealth distribution," Gallup reported. "Another quarter (24 percent) of Americans is satisfied with both economic mobility and economic equality. Most of the rest (35 percent) are satisfied with the opportunity for mobility in the country, but not the amount of equality."
When sliced and diced by party affiliation, Democrats tend to be less satisfied overall with wealth distribution and opportunity, but not by much. Where the parties diverge is when they're asked if they're satisfied with upward mobility and income equality. There, 30 percent of Republicans said "yes" but just 17 percent of Democrats.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
