Catching the Blues – Blue-Collar Workers and the Fading American Dream 08.09.2026 Haas, Nathaniel; Krumm, Reinhard; Murray, Marlies; Panknin, Knut; Tyler, Hannah At a moment when the distribution of wealth and evidence of corruption are testing the limits of American democracy and societal prosperity, we asked ourselves how relevant and attainable the American Dream remains. The American Dream is a deeply-rooted and enduring part of the American psyche. Though the term was first coined in 1931 as a marketing push to bring the country together in the face of the Great Depression, the ideals that embody the American Dream drew people to the country even before its founding. Freedom and the possibility to build a good life from the ground up continue to be the driving force for many Americans, 250 years later. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) regional office for the US and Canada wanted to know whether the American Dream still exists, particularly for blue collar workers in the US. Why? Because workers in the US, as well as in other countries worldwide, are currently facing a number of challenges to their future – because of new technologies, global crises, and Artificial Intelligence. This poll seeks to lay the groundwork for understanding which of those challenges are the most pressing, which aspects of the American Dream still resonate, and where there are openings for progressives to start building better messages and policies. Download the full report here: https://collections.fes.de/publikationen/download/pdf/2173106
