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May 25, 2011
Poll: Most Living American Dream
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A poll conducted in early March, 2011, of 1,000 homeowners in the United States has good news for the housing market - the impacts of the mortgage crisis on the economy has not changed people's minds about homeownership. People are saying that buying a home was something that would do again, if given the opportunity. They don't blame the government for their problems but see the problem with the lending institutions that did not do the right thing. Homeownership in the U.S. is safe for 9 out of 10 Americans who said that even if their home decreased in value, they would still buy it.
WASHINGTON -- Despite many homes in foreclosure, a high jobless rate and a shaky economy, most U.S. adults say they are living the American dream, a survey indicates.
The Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll indicates 59 percent say they are living the American Dream. Seventy-five percent percent surveyed say it is still possible for people like them to achieve the American Dream, which the poll defined as the ability to advance as far as their talents will take them and live better than their parents did.
Survey respondents say after raising a family, owning a home is the second most critical part of the American Dream. Nearly nine out of 10 U.S. homeowners say they would buy their homes again -- even if its value has declined, the survey says.
Three-fourths of homeowners say they have not benefited from any federal program to promote ownership, although 71 percent of those owners acknowledged they take the mortgage interest deduction -- a program to promote home ownership.
Fifty-two percent blame the housing crisis on banks and lending institutions for misleading borrowers and approving bad loans, 32 percent blame those who took out mortgages they couldn't afford and 12 percent blame government policies that encouraged too many people to own their own homes.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, conducted March 4-8, has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Housing Declared Bottoming in U.S. After Six-Year Slump
