With the U.S. economy seemingly on the rebound, Americans' views of job mobility also seem to be on the rise, with 60 percent of respondents in a new Gallup poll saying they are satisfied with the ability to get ahead by working hard.
Up from 54 percent last year, satisfaction levels are still well below where they were between 2001 and 2008, when they ranged from 77 percent for 66 percent.
When asked how they felt regarding the way income and wealth are distributed, however, the majority of respondents - 67 percent - voiced dissatisfaction, the same as last year. Thirty-one percent said they were satisfied with wealth distribution.
A poll with similar findings released in December of last year by the New York Times found that only 64 percent of respondents still believed in the American dream - the lowest in two decades, even lower than at the crux of the economic crisis in 2009, when 72 percent still believed working hard could lead to prosperity.
Considering that, according to The New York Times, all the gains of the recovery have gone to the top 1 percent of earners, it's not hard to see why some may be dissatisfied.
"After adjusting for inflation, the average income for the richest 1 percent (excluding capital gains) has risen from $871,100 in 2009 to $968,000 over 2012 and 2013," the Times wrote. "By contrast, for the remaining 99 percent, average incomes fell by a few dollars from $44,000 to $43,900."
In the Gallup poll, both Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning respondents voiced similar dissatisfaction levels with lack of mobility and equality, but Democrats were about half as likely to be satisfied with both - 17 percent versus 30 percent.
Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans to be happy with the chance to get ahead by working hard while remaining dissatisfied with equality, at 44 percent, while 28 percent of Republicans felt the same.
"Dissatisfaction is relatively high with the way income and wealth are distributed in the country today, indicating that the public's concern is focused more on the inequality of results as the system plays out, rather than on the chances people have of improving their lot within the system," Gallup's Frank Newport wrote. "These attitudes are not new. Gallup polling over the decades has consistently shown that Americans believe money and wealth should be distributed more equally in U.S. society, and have consistently supported higher taxes on the rich to help achieve that aim."
The poll was conducted Jan. 5-8 with a random sample of 804 adults and a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
