We Americans Are An Ambitious Lot

In a country where “the pursuit of happiness” is a cherished right (and nearly an obligation), you’d expect people to be ambitious. And they don’t disappoint, judging by a poll conducted for Adweek by Alden & Associates Marketing Research of Palos Verdes/Redondo Beach, Calif. As you can see in the chart below, few adults confess to being utterly unambitious, while lots are highly ambitious. Indeed, there has been a modest but measurable increase in ambitiousness since 1998, when we last posed this question.