October 3, 2022
While most Americans say it is important to them to have a good standard of living, almost half say this goal has gotten harder to achieve. That’s according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that finds significant differences in outlook based on race, ethnicity, and age.
Similarly, large majorities of the public consider raising a family and owning a home important to them, but about half believe these goals are harder to achieve compared to their parents’ generation.
The poll finds 49% of adults say it is hard for them to improve their standard of living these days, and 54% believe it is unlikely that young people today will have a better standard of living than their parents.
Black adults and older adults have a more positive outlook on upward mobility compared to the rest of the public. Black adults are more likely than white adults to report that having a good standard of living (43% vs. 28%), raising a family (33% vs. 16%), and owning a home (37% vs. 22%) have become easier for them to achieve compared to their parents. Only a quarter of Black adults report that it is more difficult now than it was for their parents to improve their standard of living, compared to half of white and Hispanic adults.
Americans aged 60 and older are more likely than younger people to believe it has gotten easier for them to achieve a good standard of living than it was for their parents (44% vs. 27%). Older Americans are also more likely than those under 60 to believe young people today will have a better standard of living.
Democrats and Republicans tend to have similar perceptions of how hard it is to get ahead in life. Comparable percentages of respondents in each party believe that owning a home, raising a family, and having a good standard of living are harder to achieve for them than it was for their parents. About half of each group also believes that it is hard for them to improve their standard of living these days, and that today’s youth are unlikely to achieve a higher standard of living than their parents.
However, there are significant partisan differences in views about the challenges of getting ahead in life for various groups of people. About 60% of the public says it is hard for Black adults and immigrants to improve their standard of living, and around half believe the same for women, LGTBQ people, and Hispanic adults. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to believe that each of these groups has a hard time improving their standard of living.
More than 9 in 10 adults believe that hard work and a stable family environment are at least somewhat important to improving their standard of living. Democrats and Republicans have very different views, however—Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say a college education, the community one lives in, parents’ wealth, race and ethnicity, and gender affect one’s ability to improve their standard of living, while Republicans are more likely to cite hard work as important. Black adults are more likely than white adults to say a college education, the talents a person is born with, and their gender are important to improving their standard of living. Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white adults to cite race and ethnicity as important.
The nationwide poll was conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from August 25 to August 29, 2022, using AmeriSpeak®, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,014 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.4 percentage points.
Three Things You Should Know
About the UChicago Harris/AP-NORC Poll Among American Adults
- 49% believe it is hard for them and their family to improve their standard of living, but Black Americans are less pessimistic than white and Hispanic Americans.
- 54% think it is unlikely that younger people today will have a better standard of living than their parents, and that pessimism is concentrated among younger adults.
- 50% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans agree that it is difficult to improve their standard of living, but Democrats are more likely to perceive added difficulties for certain groups like immigrants and people of color.
Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (October 2022). “Many Adults Are Pessimistic About Improving Their Standard of Living.” https://apnorc.org/projects/many-americans-are-pessimistic-about-improving- their-standard-of-living/
