A Gallup poll commissioned by the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream finds only 46% of Americans now agree the Dream remains attainable, a five-point decline from 51% in 2024, as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez press an economic-pessimism message to national audiences. The slide arrives as the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary on July 4th.
Sentiment by the Numbers
| Metric | 2024 | Current |
|---|---|---|
| Americans agreeing Dream is accessible | 51% | 46% |
| Point change | — | −5 |
The concept traces to 1931, when historian James Truslow Adams defined it in "The Epic of America" as a society where each person, regardless of parentage or origin, is free to pursue ambitions bounded only by individual capability — a formulation published at the depth of the Great Depression.
Progressive Tour Drives the Narrative
Sanders' 2025 "Oligarchy Tour," joined by Ocasio-Cortez, carries the argument that billionaires have rigged the system against working Americans. Ocasio-Cortez has told audiences the right-wing agenda amounts to cutting healthcare, Social Security, and veterans' benefits to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. The Gallup data suggest the messaging is having a measurable effect on national sentiment.
Immigrant Trajectories as Counter-Evidence
Elon Musk, born in South Africa, came to the United States by way of Canada to build an electric vehicle company and reimagine space travel. Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, arrived at age 6 from Russia after his father — a mathematics professor — sought to escape antisemitism. Brin attended a public high school and later the University of Maryland before building what the source describes as the world's foremost search engine.
Hasbro executive Matt Proulx, one of 13 children — 11 of them adopted — says his parents fostered 250 children over the years. "I literally had nothing. Came from dirt," Proulx said. The New York Post is publishing such accounts daily in partnership with the Milken Institute.
Education as the Structural Constraint
More than half of Black children in New York do not learn to read, a failure that functionally restricts access to the Dream for the group progressive politicians claim to represent. Without closing that literacy gap, the 46% confidence reading has little structural reason to recover, regardless of which political message dominates the next cycle.