What Does “The American Dream” Mean to You?

We recently asked our thriving digital community what the American Dream means to them. The discussion kicked off during an In Focus conversation:

After watching that clip, our audience was prompted to write in and share their own American Dream. We received over 5,000 responses like these:

• Being able to pay my bills without stress
• I want to finally start to save for retirement
• To get an apartment
• Being financially responsible for myself
• A special daycare for single parents.
• Self sufficiency that affords me a home of my own with my children.
• A simple 1 story house with 6 dogs a husband and enough money to not worry about bills or food
• House and car
• My dream is affordable dental care for ALL people.
• The ability to get married, have children, put them thru school, and be able to pay the bills 
• Opening my own automotive business 
• To be debt free and living a financially stable life!

The American dream is no longer about picket fences and two-car garages, it’s about putting food on the table. We know that the economy is always top of mind for women in our community, so it’s not surprising to see this question answered through an economic lens. But look at how the women in our community talk about economic concerns. Notice that nobody’s American dream is directly related to the GDP or stock market! Their responses reflect daily life, making ends meet, and taking care of their family’s needs. If we’re going to meet our community where they are on the economy, we have to start here.

Many women want the same things when it comes to their economic future. But how do we all get on the same page and use our civic power to create that future? Here are five helpful messaging tips we distilled from this spring’s research.

1. Address their anxiety. Many of the women who speak to us (and all of the women in recent in-depth interviews) feel deeply anxious about the economy and about their ability to stay financially afloat. We don’t want to ignore the real pain and anxiety that people are feeling right now when it comes to the economy.
   
2. Highlight merit and dignity. Our audience values merit: they believe rewards and support should be tied to how good of a job you do or how hard you work. People who value merit benefit from messaging frames highlighting that we all deserve to make ends meet, and ensuring everyone is cared for is more important than means-testing or making sure someone “deserves” that care. Relatedly, a lot of women in this audience value independence and self-sufficiency: they want a hand up from their government, not a handout.
   
3. Position the government in a supporting role. Trust in government is a key part of supporting government policies that make everyone’s life better. By highlighting tangible examples of ways the government has helped them, but keeping our audience as the hero of the story, we can build support for economic policies that help everyone.
   
4. Show a world where families like theirs are thriving. Like most people, our audience strongly values in-group care and wants to put their family and people like them first. Messages that show families like theirs flourishing because of paid leave, caps on insulin costs, or child tax credits build support for those policies that help everyone. This is part of why our ads feature real families (not actors) living in regular homes. They’re familiar and relatable!
   
5. Build linked fate. This is where we tie it all together and help our audience see beyond their in-group. They already want their in-group to have government support, but we want to extend that compassion to their out-group as well. Our messaging focuses on slowly and steadily developing linked fate over the long-term as we help our community see that America has more than enough to go around.

Now that you’ve read those five strategic points, see if you can notice how they show up in this 2024 issue education message!

This ad acknowledges that parenting (especially single parenting) is tough, highlights how hard the mom works to support her family, mentions the government’s supporting role positively, shows a relatable family thriving, and ultimately builds support for every family having what they need to put food on the table. 

As a result, this ad moved our audience to agree “I trust the federal government to implement solutions that help people like me make ends meet” by 19 percentage points. It also built support for the government helping other people make ends meet, moving women to agree “Even if I wouldn’t personally benefit, I would be willing to increase taxes if the money goes to federally-funded childcare” and “I support the government raising taxes to provide more generous social safety net programs (like subsidized housing and food stamps) even if I wouldn’t personally benefit” by 22 percentage points each.

We’ll leave you with one more quote from that American Dream poll—we think this community member gets it!
“My American Dream definitely includes financial freedom and liberation. There’s more than enough for everyone however, scarcity mindsets of certain classes of people desire for poverty to run rampant. This doesn’t have to be. Higher frequency love and peace is important for me and I also desire this for the global community.”