Young and old converge on one key point: Preponderant majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those "just getting started in life" face a tougher climb than earlier generations in reaching such signpost achievements as securing a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.

Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-year-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs, says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said, "I can't afford to pay my monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to make that happen." Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their children even though neither had completed college when he was young. "I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn't have college degrees," Schneider said. "I don't think people are capable of that anymore."

Overall, fully 78 percent of adults agreed that "compared to earlier generations … it is currently harder" for young people today "to get started in life." Just 16 percent of those surveyed thought it was easier for young people to get started today.

Lily Isenstein / National Journal

The latest Heartland Monitor Poll offers a detailed look at what Americans consider the path to success in today's economy. The results, which National Journal and The Atlantic will report in a series of stories over the next two weeks, examines the decisions that those just starting out in life believe will take them to their goals—and how that map differs from the course that earlier generations followed.

To compare attitudes across generations, the poll divided respondents into two broad groups—a younger cohort that qualifies as still starting out, and an older cohort that has passed that initial stage of life. The poll defined the younger cohort as all adults aged 18 to 24, as well as the nearly three-quarters of those aged 25 to 29 who identified themselves as "still 'getting started in life,'" after responding to questions about what constituted that initial stage of experience. The poll defined the older cohort as the remaining roughly one-quarter of 25- to-29-year-olds, plus all respondents over 30.

In these stories, we will describe those whom the poll identified as still starting out as the younger group (or cohort) and those who have passed that stage as the older group.

Both the younger and older groups largely agreed in the poll on the definition of starting out—and on the thresholds that mark the end of that stage in life. The two groups also largely converged on the greatest challenges young people face today in getting started, though with slightly differing emphasis.