One nugget that caught my eye as I perused the various polls over the past few months was a survey by The Times that suggested, despite the general pessimism about the Dream at the moment, “61% of respondents said they believed in the concept.”

Brandon Patty, a 44-year-old clerk and comptroller of St John’s County, Florida, and a Navy Reserve commander, is one of those Americans who passionately believes that the Dream is alive and working. “I feel honored to be a part of this,” he told me. “Even just by the grace of God, being born here and being part of the American experiment.”

“When I hear the phrase ‘American dream,’ it means to me that the opportunities are limitless, that in America you can start from nothing and find your way… it’s intrinsic as an American in many ways.”

Brandon was the first in his family to graduate from college, the first in his generation to graduate from high school.

“I’m 44 now and, frankly, I’m living it,” he said of the Dream.

Gonzalo Schwarz, president and CEO of the Archbridge Institute, a public policy think tank, agrees that it’s important to focus on the positive aspects of living in the United States.

The Archbridge Institute’s own poll found that majorities of several demographic groups agree that the American dream is alive and well. The organization says this is because it has a different methodology and asks more direct questions than most other surveys, which it says are more conceptual in nature.

“If we focus only on the negative aspects and the proportion of people who believe the Dream is out of reach, we risk turning the demise of the American Dream into a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Schwarz. “We must step back, take a longer-term view, and be inspired to rekindle the American dream as a beacon of hope for America’s next 250 years.”