By Frank F Islam & Ed Crego, August 11th, 2026 (Image credits: Tom de Boor/JNCGPT56)

Is the American Dream still alive? The answer to that question depends on whom you ask.

President Donald J. Trump probably believes that it is. That’s because after he returned to office, his income went up by more than two billion dollars in 2025.

When asked to explain this surge, he attributed it to the performance of the stock market. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post reports:

You know why I’m profiting, because the stock market’s going up,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One, adding that Americans’ investments in their 401(k) retirement savings plans have increased in his second term. “Everybody’s profiting. … Thank you, President Trump.

Some Americans may be saying “Thank you, President Trump.” But not all of them would be doing so, because many Americans are not invested in the stock market, and the benefits to those who are invested are not evenly distributed.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports that in April of this year:

• 58% of U.S. adults own stock, mostly through retirement accounts.
• The wealthiest 1% own more stock than the bottom 90% combined.
• Stock ownership varies greatly by race and generation, favoring white Americans and boomers.

No polling has been done to see how those invested in the stock market feel about the American dream today — as opposed to those who are not. Several polls have been done this year, however, asking people for their opinions on the dream.

Gallup and AP-NORC (a successor to a survey previously conducted by WSJ-NORC) have been polling on the opportunity for Americans to achieve the American dream for some time.

The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream-Gallup American Dream Study this year found that “less than half (51%) believe it within reach for everyone.” The AP-NORC America 250 Poll found that “Only a third of the American public feel the American dream, the belief that if you work hard you’ll get ahead, still holds true today.”

The results of CBS News and CNBC research parallel those findings. The new CNBC and Survey Monkey American Dream Pulse Survey found that “Just over half (51%)of Americans say the American Dream is out of reach for most people right now…” The CBS News Poll on America at 250, conducted with YouGov, disclosed that “just half (50%) of Americans are even somewhat confident that the American Dream is attainable today.”

These findings, in the aggregate, do not paint a pretty picture for how the majority of Americans today feel about the opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

President Donald Trump’s viewpoint does not align with opinions of these disappointed citizens. As Natalie Allison and Cleve R. Wootson report in their Washington Post article, Trump shared his proud and rapturous perspective on the dream in his 4th of July speech, given late in the evening from the National Mall, proclaiming: .

“We never had the American Dream, however, like we have it right now. The American Dream is back. Very strong. Beautiful.”

The beginning of Trump’s proclamation may be correct. We definitely have never had the American Dream like we have it right now.

All objective research shows the opportunity for Americans to achieve the American Dream is descending, rather than ascending. As noted at the outset of this piece, Trump defines the American Dream in terms of the performance of the stock market, not in terms of the conditions of the average American citizen.

That said, there are many definitions of the American dream.

Some people trace the American Dream to the following words from the Declaration of Independence:

. . . hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Indeed, those words may be the origin of the concept.

The actual term, however, was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book, The Epic of America, written in 1931:

. . . a dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability and achievement… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

We defined the American dream in our book Renewing the American Dream: A Citizen’s Guide for Restoring Our Competitive Advantage (Renewing), as follows:

The American Dream is the opportunity each and every citizen has to realize one’s personal potential and to achieve success, generally measured as economic security. The fundamental elements of the dream are getting educated and working hard in order to have a good job that pays decent wages, provides adequate benefits, puts food on the table, a roof over one’s head, and allows for retirement with dignity.

We published Renewing on July 4, 2010, due to the fact that the American Dream was at risk at that time, because the first decade of the 21st century had been a decade of decline. The median income and the net worth of American household declined for the first time since those figures were tracked. Income inequality was at the highest level since the Great Depression.

Fast forward to 2026. By most measures, things have gotten worse rather than better for many in the working and middle class. As we observed in our blog preceding this one:

… a significant percentage of the American people have been and are suffering today because of the dramatic rise of costs in areas such as housing, health care, child care, food and energy in comparison to their shrinking incomes and potential for upward mobility. Wages have not kept up with costs and many organizations have eliminated jobs that enabled employees to move up the employment ladder.

The American Dream is still alive for some, but it is disappearing into the shadows for far too many Americans. The American Dream still exists, but it’s on life-support.

Donald Trump’s saying the American Dream is “back, very strong” does not make that a reality. In fact, it ignores the truth and what needs to be done to bring the American Dream fully to life for all — making it instead a nightmare for too many citizens.

It would be unrealistic for Trump to care and be concerned about the actual status of the American Dream, or to make plans and take actions to revive and renew it for all Americans. It will be critical, though, for the next president to step forward and to lead the renewal process. That process requires leadership renewal, organizational renewal, and individual renewal.

Leadership renewal comes from those at the top of organizations demonstrating the “right stuff” to make the American dream a priority again. Organizational renewal depends on the organizations in all sectors — public, private, and nonprofit — putting comprehensive plans in place that ensure their effective implementation through proper preparation, involvement, and execution. Individual renewal centers on twenty-first century citizenship, which asks concerned citizens to invest in the American Dream by being interested, issues-oriented, informed, independent, and involved.

We go into detail on this process in Renewal. Sadly, the recommendations we made more than a decade and one-half ago remain relevant today.

We are at a pivotal period in American history. As Theodore R. Johnson advised in his opinion piece for the Washington Post:

When the nation defines its purpose by how faithfully it preserves an earlier vision of itself, unmet grievances become central to its political identity. When it defines its purpose based on founding ideals of equality and opportunity, progress is the standard, and the capacity to change becomes part of its character. The American Dream reflects the difference: In one vision, it is an inheritance to be guarded; in the other, an opportunity to be extended. In one, the promise of America is contractual and conditional; in the other, it is a declaration of potential.

And, as Woody Guthrie sang to and for us in his song, published in 1940:

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

Guthrie doesn’t mention the American Dream in This Land is Your Land, but that is what the song is actually about. The Kennedy Center notes, in its commentary on This Land,

Today, this classic folk song is usually sung as a popular pro-America anthem by Americans of every background. But it was written to have a radical edge that hollered for the country to make its bounty available to rich and poor alike.

In 2026, it is essential that we, the people, hear Woody Guthrie and Theodore Johnson, and respond by coming together to do what is required to make the American dream of equality and opportunity a reality for each and every American, from California to the New York Island. By doing so, we will ensure that this land is their land.