… Led by Obama’s chief pollster, Joel Benenson, the campaign had spent 2011 examining Americans’ views on economic security and the American Dream. They concluded that something fundamental had changed. It used to be political gospel that a candidate couldn’t risk talking about inequality because such a stance was so […] Read more »
Being In the Middle Class Means Worrying About Falling Behind
Americans still believe they can reach for the stars, but they are increasingly fearful they are standing on a trapdoor as they try. That’s the deeply ambivalent message from the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll exploring the public’s perception of what it means to be middle class in America […] Read more »
The Great British class calculator
People in the UK now fit into seven social classes, a major survey conducted by the BBC suggests. It says the traditional categories of working, middle and upper class are outdated, fitting 39% of people. It found a new model of seven social classes ranging from the elite at the […] Read more »
Equal Opportunity, Our National Myth
… Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country. Study after study has exposed the myth that America is a land of opportunity. This is especially tragic: While Americans may differ on the desirability of equality of outcomes, there is near-universal consensus […] Read more »
Who Is Middle Class, Anyway?
One of the big political winners this week in Washington was the “middle class.” President Barack Obama mentioned that important group of voters eight times in his State of the Union address and announced new programs aimed at helping them. Not to be outdone, Sen. Marco Rubio uttered the magic […] Read more »
Middle Class Dream Persists, Though Harder to Attain
There is broad agreement among Americans about what constitutes a middle class life, even as those elements – saving for tomorrow, home ownership, a college education, and disposable income for items like vacation and new cars – are increasingly hard to come by, according to a new University of Connecticut/Hartford […] Read more »