Survey of more than 3,300 residents find most Golden State denizens have little faith in their own prospects
...MOREOn Tuesday, the Public Religion Research Institute—a Washington DC-based nonprofit—released the results of a survey asking more than 3,300 Californians gauging public attitudes about work, the economy, and the American dream.The results were pretty grim statewide, with one exception: Those polled in the Bay Area tend to be much more optimistic about their chances in the Golden State compared to Californians in surrounding regions.Some illustrative examples from the data:
- Californians don’t believed in the “American dream”: Asked whether they believed those who work hard will eventually get ahead, a plurality 47 percent of workers statewide said yes. However, another 43 percent said that this was true in the past but no longer the case. And 10 percent are of the opinion it was never true in the first place.
- Neither does the Bay Area: Despite the fact that Bay Area residents say they’re better off financially than the rest of the state, local figures are slightly worse for the American dream question: only 45 percent still believe in it, versus 44 percent who say it’s come and gone and 11 percent who believe it was a myth in the first place.
- Bay Area more likely to believe in the “California dream”: Asked whether it’s easier to get ahead in California versus other states, only 16 percent of California workers agreed. Fifty-five percent said it’s harder here. In the Bay Area the number of those who say easier is slightly higher—18 percent—but so too is the number of those who call it harder: 59 percent.
- Most Californians ready to tell others to “go east”: Overall, some 64 percent of those polled across the state would advise younger people to try their luck getting ahead in some other state. The only exception to this trend was in the Bay Area, where 55 percent advised people stay here and give California a shot....
