CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten reported Wednesday that younger Americans are far less likely than older generations to believe in the American dream.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Does the American dream still exist? Or maybe more pointedly, is it still achievable? As the Wall Street Journal puts it, America is becoming a nation of economic pessimists. Harry Enten, crunching the numbers on this one. I would ask you for some uplifting news, but it sounds like there’s none to be found. HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: No, I would say America, we have a problem. And it’s not just the Wall Street Journal poll that came out. I was looking at an ABC News poll that came out last year as well. If you work hard, you’ll get ahead. That is the American dream. Never not true now. In 2010 to 2011, 15 years ago, it was 51 percent who said it wasn’t true. Now look at this number. Through the roof, 70 percent. Still true. Look at this. Still true percentage. Falling through the floor. It was 47 percent 15 years ago. Now it is just 29 percent. So we basically had a 50-50 nation on whether the American dream was still true 15 years ago. But now it’s over two-thirds of Americans who say it’s never or no longer true. BOLDUAN: How does this break down? What group is seeing the most pessimism or the most loss in faith of the American dream? ENTEN: OK, so why has this percentage dropped from 47 percent to 29 percent? It’s being driven by younger Americans. Look at this. The American dream still holds true. In 2010, age 18 to 29, it was 56 percent. Look at where that number has absolutely tumbled to. It has dropped. What is that? That’s 35 points to just 21 percent. We’ve seen some drop with senior citizens, those 65 or older. But that’s just been a drop of 53 to 41 percent. What is essentially going on here is, the American youth have lost faith pretty much completely in the idea of an American dream. And that, of course, goes back to the idea of why there’s poll after poll after poll that shows that younger people, more so than any other part of our nation at this point, have seen deepening pessimism in their personal lives as well. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it just economics, or is there something more? ENTEN: Yes, OK. So this, you know, look, if you work hard, you’ll get ahead. That’s the American dream, the idea of it being tied to the economy. BOLDUAN: But I think it goes deeper than that. As I was mentioning, I think it goes into their personal lives. And this to me is just — it’s just scary. It’s just scary. OK, what are we talking about? Have five or more close friends. Back in 1990, look at this, 63 percent, the clear majority of Americans said they had five — at least five or more close friends. Look at where that number has tumbled to now. It’s just 40 percent. So, basically, we’re just seeing a complete collapse of sort of the American structure, right? It’s economic, yes, but it’s also people in their personal lives, whether or not they have close friends. And then all of a sudden, if you feel like you work hard, you can’t get ahead. You go home, you try and have friends, and you don’t really have that many close friends. And get this, the percentage of Americans who have no close friends has jumped up from 3 percent to now 17 percent. Seventeen percent of Americans say they have no close friends. No wonder pessimism is really taking a hold in the American public. BOLDUAN: Right. ENTEN: As I said at the beginning of this, America, we have a real problem. BOLDUAN: Yes, impacting like your entire outlook on life, not just — right, not just — ENTEN: Yes, it’s — exactly right. It’s economic, but it’s social as well. BOLDUAN: So interesting. Thank you, Harry. ENTEN: Thank you.

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