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October 03, 2012 at 10:08 AM
Nearly half of Americans say they have more opportunity to get ahead than their parents did, and nearly three quarters say they expect to reach financial security and comfort in their lifetimes, according to a new report.
The Allstate Corporation, Northfield Township, Ill. (NYSE: ALL), unveiled this finding in the 14th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll of 1,250 adults ages 18 and older. The survey explores perceptions of upward mobility among Americans and sheds new light on the challenges and obstacles they face in their continued efforts to get ahead.
Three in four Americans say getting ahead is harder than in the past, but an equal proportion have been able get ahead in their lifetime, the report states.
Asked what plays the greatest role in determining whether they will succeed, about two-thirds of the respondents identify either their own skills and hard work or their educational background; less than one in five say the key factor is the economy’s state. Only about one in 20 assign the most responsibility to government policies or their ethnic and racial background.
But while 76% of Americans say they’ve been able to get ahead financially over the course of their lives so far, nearly as many (75%) believe it is harder to do so today than in previous generations, the report states. Almost half (48%) say they have more opportunities than their parents did at the same age, but a greater number combined say they either have the same opportunities (28%) or fewer (23%).
Minorities (at 61%) are more likely than whites (at 44%) to say they have more opportunities than their parents did.
And slightly more than half of Americans (51%) say the economic downturn has redefined what it means to “get ahead,” defining success today as holding a job, paying bills, avoiding debt, and saving for the future, rather than bigger success factors, like steady increases in income, buying a home, or saving and investing more each year.
