半数美国年轻人认为美国梦已死

“美国梦”究竟活着还是死了？在这个问题上，美国的千禧一代似乎分成了两派。

在哈佛大学政治学院最近对18岁至29岁的年轻人进行的一项调查中，有48%的受访者面对“对你个人来说，‘美国梦’这个理念是活着还是死了”的问题时，简单干脆地选择了“死了”。相比之下，有49%的受访者选择了“活着”。

负责此次调查的哈佛大学政治学院教授约翰•迪拉•沃普表示：“在美国人数最大的一代人中，大约一半都不相信‘美国梦’，这个现象非常令人担忧。我认为，这种沮丧情绪与他们不信任政府、不相信政府在为他们服务有关。”

深入研究这些受访者的人口统计学数据，我们发现，在认为美国梦是生是死的问题上，受访者的教育程度扮演了非常重要的角色。在已经大学毕业的千禧一代中，有58%的人表示，美国梦对他们而言是活着的；而在那些目前没有上大学或从来没有上过大学的千禧一代人中，只有42%给出了相同的答案。

从今年美国大选的政治倾向上看，在愿意给共和党候选人特朗普投票的年轻选民中，有61%表示美国梦已死，有39%表示美国梦还活着；在更青睐民主党候选人桑德斯的年轻选民中，也有56%表示美国梦是没有未来的。

不久之前，皮尤研究中心发布的一份最新报告还显示，美国的中产阶层正在缩水，已经不能代表美国人口的大多数。在所有年龄段的人中，18到29岁之间的青年人也遭遇了自1971年以来最大幅度的收入下跌。

这个结果也符合经济政策研究所最近的一项研究。该研究显示，在扣除通胀因素后，2013年年轻大学毕业生的平均时薪，甚至要低于上世纪90年代末的水平。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

审校：任文科

Millennials seem to be split on whether the American Dream is alive and kicking, or down and out.

In a recent survey among 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, 48% responded to the question “For you personally, is the idea of the American Dream alive or dead?” with a simple “dead.” In contrast, 49% picked “alive” when asked the same question.

“It is disturbing that about half of the largest generation in America doesn’t believe the American dream is there for them personally,” John Della Volpe, the institute’s polling director, toldBloomberg. “That frustration, I think, is tied into a government they don’t trust and they don’t think is working for them.”

Digging into the demographic of these respondents also reveals that education level played a significant role in determining the vitality of the American Dream. 58% of millennials who graduated from college said the Dream was alive for them personally, while for those who were not in college or have never enrolled in one, only 42% said the same.

Political affiliation during this election season also revealed that among millennials who would vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump, 61% said the American Dream was dead, compared with 39% who said it’s alive. Fifty-six percent of those who favor Bernie Sanders as the Democrat presidential nominee also said there was no future for the American Dream.

These findings come after the latest report from the Pew Research Center showed that the middle class was shrinking and no longer represented the majority of the U.S. population. The 18-to-29 age range saw the biggest drop in income status among all age groups since 1971, Pew noted, dovetailing with a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute that showed inflation-adjusted hourly wages of young college graduates in 2013 were lower than they were in the late 1990s.