A Partnership with MCAAD and Gallup
2026 State of the American Dream Study
For 250 years, the American Dream has drawn people from every corner of the world with the promise that one’s future is not determined by where one started. Our second edition of the State of the American Dream survey, fielded during a time of growing partisan divisions widespread concerns about the country’s direction, finds elements to watch as well as surprising resilience.
While 46% of Americans believe everyone in the country has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, most still expect to achieve it themselves and say it important to strive for. As we mark the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, we find that most Americans—across party—believe the American Dream is unfinished, which suggests that we all have work to do.
The gap between American confidence in their ability to achieve the Dream (68%) and their sense that everyone can achieve it (46%) is stark. People are worried about whether the systems allow opportunity for everyone and nearly 80% of Americans think the American Dream is important. Why does that 22-point gap between aspiration and reality exist, and what can we do to solve it? How can we help the 10% of people who think the American Dream is important and don’t personally believe they will achieve it?
We do find some remarkable areas of consensus even in a highly polarized society. Americans agree that the most important aspects of the American Dream are having financial security, having rights protected by law, and having freedom to live as you choose. Almost 90% of Americans think critical thinking is a very important goal of K-12 education. Nearly 60% of Americans see the Dream as unfinished, not failed, across every partisan, generational, and demographic line. The divide in the data is real—people often don’t feel like key parts of the Dream are achievable, faith in hard work is slipping among certain groups—but so is the common ground.
As we continue to dig into the rich data from this survey, we will share more findings throughout the year. While we see some bipartisan alignment on the importance of the ideal and even what it should mean, there is a major partisan divide in whether people think it is achievable. This year, we also asked about what people think of AI related to the American Dream and we see strong concerns across most demographics. We dug into what people see as the purpose of education – and how well they think schools are delivering. You can read more from Gallup on the data we’ve released so far here and we can’t wait to share more—stay tuned.
Read more from Gallup about the results of the 2026 State of the American Dream Study.
Below: Remarks on the state of the American Dream by Gallup CEO Jon Clifton, presented at the Closing Plenary of the Milken Institute's 2026 Global Conference.