--- title: "Fading Faith: Why Americans Are Sour on Capitalism at the 250th Anniversary" description: Americans still believe in enterprise. What they increasingly distrust is an economy that appears to reward access, scale, and political influence more reliably than work. image: https://americanimpact.org/hubfs/image%20(1)-Sep-01-2026-09-44-44-6942-AM.jpg --- [![American Impact - Trimmed Logo one PNG](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20one%20PNG.png?width=1249&height=574&name=American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20one%20PNG.png "American Impact - Trimmed Logo one PNG")](https://americanimpact.org/) - [Home](https://americanimpact.org) - [About](https://americanimpact.org/about-american-impact) - [About the Foundation](https://americanimpact.org/about-the-american-impact-0) - [FAQs](https://americanimpact.org/frequently-asked-questions) - Issues - [Legislation](https://americanimpact.org/legislation) - [Monetary Policy](https://americanimpact.org/monetary-policy) - [Investing](https://americanimpact.org/investing) - [Entitlement Programs](https://americanimpact.org/entitlement-programs) - [Government Taxation, Spending, and Debt](https://americanimpact.org/government-taxation-spending-and-debt) - [Financial Literacy in the United States](https://americanimpact.org/financial-literacy) - [Articles](https://americanimpact.org/blog) - [Donate](https://americanimpact.org/donate) - [Charitable Solicitation Registration Statement](https://americanimpact.org/charitable-solicitation-registration-statement) [Contact Us](https://americanimpact.org/contact) # Fading Faith: Why Americans Are Sour on Capitalism at the 250th Anniversary [American Impact](https://americanimpact.org/blog/author/american-impact) Sep 1, 2026, 4:44:52 AM ###### [Financial Literacy](https://americanimpact.org/blog/tag/financial-literacy) *Americans still believe in enterprise. What they increasingly distrust is an economy that appears to reward access, scale, and political influence more reliably than work.* ## **What to Know** - Only **49%** say capitalism is working well, down from **60%** a decade ago. - Just **35%** believe America still offers a dependable path to good jobs and the American dream. - Only **42%** of adults ages **18–34** say capitalism is working well. - While **95%** view small businesses positively, only **37%** feel the same about big businesses. - **75%** say billionaires and large corporations have too much influence in Washington. At the nation’s **250**th anniversary, Americans are being asked to celebrate an economic system many no longer believe is working for them. That is the uncomfortable conclusion emerging from a new Wall Street Journal-NORC survey. Just **49%** of Americans say capitalism is working very or somewhat well, down from **60%** roughly a decade ago. A **51%** majority now says the system is not working well or is not working at all.   ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-46-9342-AM.png?width=686&height=394&name=undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-46-9342-AM.png) *Screenshot of WSJ Newspaper*   The shift is bigger than a debate over economic labels. Only **35%** of respondents say they feel confident that the country still offers a dependable path to good jobs and the American dream. That finding strikes at a central piece of the national bargain: work hard, play by the rules, and life should become more secure. For a growing share of Americans, that bargain no longer feels credible. ## This Is Not a Rejection of Enterprise The most important lesson in the data is also the easiest to miss. Americans have not suddenly turned against private initiative, entrepreneurship, or local commerce. They are distinguishing between an ideal and the version of the system they experience every day. [Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/694835/image-capitalism-slips.aspx) found that **95%** of Americans view small business positively and **81%** feel positively about free enterprise. Capitalism, however, receives a positive rating from just **54%**, the lowest Gallup has recorded. Big business fares far worse at **37%**. ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-46-5291-AM.png?width=689&height=379&name=undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-46-5291-AM.png)   That gap tells the real story. The public still admires the neighborhood store, the family contractor, the independent farmer, and the entrepreneur who builds something useful. What Americans increasingly resent is concentrated economic power, especially when it appears intertwined with political power. In other words, the public is not abandoning markets. It is questioning whether the market is still open, competitive, and fair. ## A System Seen as Rigged From the Top The WSJ-NORC survey found that **75%** of Americans believe billionaires and large corporations have too much influence in Washington while working-class people have too little. More than half, **52%**, agree that corporate power exploits workers and consumers and want the government to limit that influence or give workers a greater voice. These are not fringe opinions. They reflect a broad perception that the rules are written by people with the resources to shape them. [Henry Olsen](https://eppc.org/author/henry_olsen/), a senior fellow at the [Ethics and Public Policy Center](https://eppc.org/), described the problem as a breakdown in the country’s informal social contract. His point captures why the decline in confidence matters. Capitalism depends on more than private ownership and profit. It also depends on public legitimacy.   ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-6300-AM.png?width=220&height=259&name=undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-6300-AM.png) *Henry Olsen; image via* [*X*](https://x.com/henryolsenEPPC/photo) People must believe effort can lead somewhere, competition is genuine, and success is not reserved for those who already hold economic or political leverage. When wages feel disconnected from productivity, housing feels permanently out of reach, and large institutions seem insulated from the consequences of failure, criticism of capitalism becomes less ideological and more personal. ## Young Americans Are Sending the Loudest Warning The generational divide makes the warning harder to dismiss. Among adults ages **18** to **34**, only **42%** say capitalism is working well. That rises to **46%** among those ages **35** to **49**, **48%** among those ages **50** to **64**, and **56%** among Americans **65** and older. ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-3528-AM.png?width=748&height=461&name=undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-3528-AM.png) *Source:* [*Wall Street Journal/NORC Poll*](https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/wsj-poll-usa250-capitalism-democracy-940af905)*, June 2026* Older Americans were more likely to enter adulthood when housing, education, and family formation consumed a smaller share of income. Younger adults have instead moved through the Great Recession, a pandemic, inflation, high housing costs, expensive education, and an increasingly insecure labor market. Their skepticism is not necessarily the product of hostility toward success. It is often the product of watching the traditional milestones of success move farther away. ![](https://americanimpact.org/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-8943-AM.png?width=524&height=588&name=undefined-Sep-01-2026-09-37-45-8943-AM.png) *Source:* [*Wall Street Journal/NORC Poll*](https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/wsj-poll-usa250-capitalism-democracy-940af905)*, June 2026*   Gallup’s partisan results reinforce the political stakes. Only **42%** of Democrats now view capitalism positively, while **66%** view socialism positively. Republicans remain much more favorable toward capitalism, but even their support exists alongside deep suspicion of major corporations and institutional power. The argument is therefore not confined to the left. Populist frustration is being expressed through different political languages on both sides. ## The Political Risk Is Bigger Than a Debate Over Socialism Candidates who treat these numbers as a simple capitalism-versus-socialism contest will miss what voters are actually saying. Many Americans are not asking the government to replace markets. They are asking why markets seem disciplined for workers and small businesses but negotiable for the powerful. They see strict consequences for missing rent, carrying medical debt, or losing a job, while dominant institutions can lobby for exemptions, subsidies, bailouts, and favorable rules. That asymmetry creates an opening for candidates willing to talk about competition, antitrust enforcement, affordable housing, workforce mobility, small-business formation, and the political influence of concentrated wealth. It also creates danger for leaders who defend the economic status quo by reciting abstract praise for capitalism without addressing the lived conditions eroding its legitimacy. # Wrap Up America’s economic identity will not be restored through patriotic branding alone. Confidence returns when people can see a credible relationship between work, opportunity, and security. That means protecting genuine competition, lowering barriers for small businesses, expanding access to housing and skills, and making political institutions less responsive to concentrated money. It also means recognizing the emotional reality beneath the polling. Americans are not merely worried about prices. They are worried that the future is closing around them. At **250**, the United States is not facing a wholesale rejection of enterprise. It is facing a legitimacy crisis for a version of capitalism that too many people experience as selective, protected, and detached from the promise of upward mobility. The public has not lost faith in hard work. It has lost faith that hard work is enough.   [American Impact](https://americanimpact.org/blog/author/american-impact) Share this article on [mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20Fading%20Faith:%20Why%20Americans%20Are%20Sour%20on%20Capitalism%20at%20the%20250th%20Anniversary%20&body=Check%20out%20https://americanimpact.org/blog/fading-faith-why-americans-are-sour-on-capitalism-at-the-250th-anniversary](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20Fading%20Faith:%20Why%20Americans%20Are%20Sour%20on%20Capitalism%20at%20the%20250th%20Anniversary%20&body=Check%20out%20https://americanimpact.org/blog/fading-faith-why-americans-are-sour-on-capitalism-at-the-250th-anniversary) ##### Read more - [The Price on the Sign: Why Gasoline Remains an Immediate Affordability Test](https://americanimpact.org/blog/the-price-on-the-sign-why-gasoline-remains-an-immediate-affordability-test) - [No Roadblocks, No Special Favors: A State Framework for Data-Center Growth](https://americanimpact.org/blog/no-roadblocks-no-special-favors-a-state-framework-for-data-center-growth) - [The AI Utility Surcharge and Why Households May Pay for Grid Expansion](https://americanimpact.org/blog/the-ai-utility-surcharge-and-why-households-may-pay-for-grid-expansion) ![American Impact - Trimmed Logo white](https://americanimpact.org/hubfs/American%20Impact%20-%20Trimmed%20Logo%20white.png "American Impact - Trimmed Logo white") **Our Contact Info:** American Impact, Inc. 3232 McKinney Ave Ste 500 Dallas, TX 75204 **Phone:** (214) 429-3710 **General Email:** **[info@americanimpact.org](mailto:info@americanimpact.org)** *American Impact and American Impact Foundation are affiliate nonprofit organizations with missions to provide civic and voter engagement and provide financial literacy and fiscal public policy education at the federal, state and local level.* *Contributions to American Impact, an IRS designated 501(c)(4) nonprofit, are not tax deductible.  American Impact Foundation is a section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under the IRS and contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.* --- © 2024 American Impact Foundation | [Privacy](https://20089053.hs-sites.com/privacy) and [Donation Refund Policy ](https://20089053.hs-sites.com/refundpolicy) [Legal](https://americanimpact.org/charitable-solicitation-registration-statement) [Privacy Policy](https://americanimpact.org/privacy)