Now Consider This: Americans losing optimism about the future

More than three-fourths of American adults lack confidence that their children’s generation will have a better life than they do, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. That’s a record high. What’s more, the lack of faith is shared by Americans of all income levels, races, ages and ideologies. “This fractious nation is united by one thing: lost faith in the United States,” wrote Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. They also agree on another thing: 71 percent blame the nation’s economic problems mostly on the inability of elected officials in Washington, D.C., to get things done. – Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published August 17, 2014 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Now Consider This: Americans losing optimism about the future."