People Over Politics: Make the American Dream Affordable Again

Disagreements over how and why Republicans won the 2024 presidential election and control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress will continue for decades to come. Nonetheless, the results follow a clear pattern. A growing number of Americans are disconnected and discouraged by our current political system. So much so that the number of voters who consider themselves independent has outstripped the members of either party and trust in government institutions has decreased over the years. People crave change and feel like the American Dream is slipping away.

Despite the national numbers telling them our economy is better than ever, people at the bottom rarely get a taste of that success. Prices for goods people use to get by are higher than they ever remember, staying stubbornly high even as the rate of inflation goes down. The dream of homeownership is still too pricey for many and the proliferation of low-paid jobs isn’t helping. Although it’s probably not the only reason, Americans voted for the candidate they think will break the status quo and promises a better economy for them and their families.

For residents living in Cook County, the home of Chicago and a constellation of suburbs, worries about making ends meet are just as urgent. Our 2024 CivicSpace survey of Cook County residents shows that regardless of political differences, people have common priorities when it comes to the economy and living up to the American Dream. Here’s what city, county, and state leaders should be thinking about over the next four years as indicated directly by the Chicagoland community.

In 2024, the CivicSpace team asked 515 residents of Cook County what was most important to them to make sure they have enough money to take care of themselves and their family. Our survey focused on people earning less than $60,000 per year to get a sense of the unique challenges lower income and lower-middle income Chicago-area residents face.

• We recruited from around the county, including both city and suburban residents using a firm called Qualtrics to help with recruitment.
• Answers from people who didn’t answer all the questions or filled out the survey more than once were dropped.
• We asked a series of questions about specific areas our program has worked on or hopes to work on in the future to ensure our work was useful to the community. We also gave people several opportunities to write in their own words to ensure we weren’t missing anything.
• The majority of participants were Black (42 percent), Latine (25 percent), or White (27 percent). A small number of Asian, biracial, and Native American people participated.
• Respondents were fairly well split between men and women, with a small number of transgender or nonbinary respondents.
• Our sample tended to the young side with around 44 percent between the ages of 18 and 35. In particular, Latine respondents were more likely to be younger and female, and White respondents were more likely to be male and older.

Despite Chicago’s reputation as a Democratic stronghold, our survey included people with political views across the board. We purposely didn’t ask about party, but rather political orientation. People were asked to describe themselves as Very Conservative, Right Leaning, Centrist, Left Leaning, Very Progressive, and Unsure/Undecided.

• A high number of respondents may have trouble picking a political party. Close to 4 in 10 of all respondents (38 percent) were Centrist or Unsure/Undecided.
• Extremely low income individuals could go any direction politically. Those earning under $10,000 per year were much more likely to be Unsure or Undecided than other groups. A whopping 29 percent of those earning less than $5,000 per year and 26 percent of people earning between $5,000-$9,999 per year were Unsure or Undecided. This suggests these potential voters may not feel like they are served by either party.
• Chicago-area African-Americans had a wide variety of political orientations that may not match their party affiliation. Strikingly, African-Americans in our survey were spread fairly evenly across the board in terms of political orientation. Twenty-nine percent were Right Leaning or Very Conservative, 34 percent were Left Leaning or Very Progressive, and 37 percent were either Centrist or Undecided. This suggests both that political beliefs may not always determine party affiliation and that the traditional Democratic hold on African-Americans isn’t a given.
• Latines tended to be more Centrist or Unsure/Undecided, perhaps a reminder that Latine voters are not a monolith. Respondents with a Latine background were most commonly Centrist (20 percent) or Unsure/Undecided (23 percent). Generally, they were also less likely to be found in the very conservative or very progressive groups.

Because our work in Chicago is focused on helping low- to moderate-income Chicagoans build financial security, one of our open-ended questions asked about what they needed to make the financial aspects of the American Dream attainable. We wanted to know what might keep them from the financial prosperity inherent in the American Dream. Answers varied across the board, but a few themes rose to the top.

• Financial stability is a major aspect of the American Dream and a number of respondents were struggling to get there. A number of respondents (N=119) indicated that financial stability was how they defined their version of the American Dream and financial worries or hardship (N=60) as their biggest barrier to achieving the American Dream. Financial worries included more general concerns around being able to afford basic goods, services, bills, and other necessities. Respondents also mentioned inflation or the rising cost of living (N=44) as other key concerns.
• Owning a home and having a comfortable life were major aspects. People’s version of the American Dream was also commonly defined by owning their own home (N=79) and living a comfortable life, e.g. having their basic needs met (N=56).
• Taking care of one’s family defined many people’s vision for the future. Having a family or taking care of one’s family was a major priority for people and defined many people’s vision for the future (N=60).

When we asked people how important specific issues were to them, there was strong agreement across a number of topic areas. While some priorities differed based on race, age, and political orientation, a surprising number of items were consistent regardless of political views.

• Rising online fraud is a threat to financial stability and people feel unprotected. Ninety-percent of all respondents considered protection from online fraud very important or important for having enough money to take care of their family. This included their information being stolen and losing money to online scammers. While there were small differences in those who thought it was very important, this was true across the political spectrum and nearly every demographic.
• Good jobs and the benefits that come with them were highly important to people. Jobs and benefits were ranked highly overall. Affordable health insurance (66 percent ranked Very Important) as well as access to good jobs (65 percent ranked Very Important) were in the top three across all issues and nearly tied. Other job related benefits ranked highly overall, such as retirement accounts and paid days off.
  • Affordable health insurance was top of mind suggesting that being able to pay for health care costs is a major concern. Surprisingly, across the board around 90 percent of all political orientations thought affordable health insurance was very important or important. The fact that this was raised in a state that has expanded Medicaid shows there is likely more work to be done to lower health care costs.
  • Across all political orientations, access to good jobs was key. Access to good jobs was Very Important to nearly 6 in 10 people (+59 percent) across all political groups and Very Important or Important to at least 8 in 10 (80 to 89 percent) of respondents across all political orientations.
• Homeownership feels like a far-off dream as people struggle to afford the basics. While homeownership items like a low-cost home and help securing a mortgage were popular, more Chicagoland residents were concerned with having enough to pay rent and security deposits for apartments. In open ended answers, affordable housing was commonly mentioned with people concerned about the cost of both rent and mortgages. About the same percentage of those that considered themselves Very Conservative or Very Progressive both thought that help paying for rent or a security deposit was Very Important or Important (78 percent vs 81 percent). Difficulty paying for both large and small everyday expenses was a common write-in, as was inflation and the cost of living.
• Being able to access tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Child Tax Credit (CTC) without paying a tax preparer can be a lifeline for lower income families. Although the parties diverge on the topic, unexpectedly a simple way to file taxes was Very Important or Important to 77 to 86 percent of all political views. Nearly half of our respondents fall below or slightly above the threshold for filing taxes, so having a simple, quick way to receive a tax refund could save them an entire paycheck in tax preparation fees and lead to thousands of dollars in tax refunds to pay bills and help get their families through another year.

A major goal of our survey was making sure our team is focused on government programs and laws that are top priority for low- to moderate-income community members. We asked people, “When you think about what you and your neighbors need to succeed financially, what do you wish lawmakers were paying more attention to?”

• Concerns about inflation, the cost of housing, and high taxes topped the list. The top three most frequently mentioned themes were Inflation (i.e. the cost of living and essential goods are unsustainably high), Housing (i.e. affording housing whether that means homes or the cost of rent), and Taxes (i.e. taxes are too high for lower- and middle-income households).
• Tension over who receives help surfaced as well. There was also a theme of deservingness among who lawmakers should pay more attention to. Some felt that American citizens weren’t getting enough support compared to recently arrived immigrants. Although it is common for immigrants to play the scapegoat in American politics, these survey responses raise the importance of addressing these tensions and making sure all Americans can survive financially, including long-time residents and the newcomers fleeing violence or political turmoil.

Helping all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or political orientation, afford the American Dream is a challenge, but perhaps the most important challenge most politicians face. The stakes are higher than ever for our great republic. Tackling the problem will require creativity and hard work across the aisle at every level of government. People need to feel like their voices are heard and their priorities matter again. Fortunately, Americans have never been one to back down from a challenge.