Former "Melrose Place" actor Andrew Shue has said that around 70% of Americans believe the American Dream is "dead or dying", warning that dissatisfaction spans the political and economic spectrum. In an interview with Fox News Digital, the 59-year-old argued the decline in optimism is not tied to any single election or leader but reflects deep-rooted problems in the country's political and economic systems, which he said have accumulated over decades and predate Donald Trump's political career.

Shue said around 90% of Americans feel they are "treading water or underwater" financially, and blamed a political system he believes rewards those already in power alongside "performative conflict", and an economic system skewed towards those at the top. To address the divide, he founded The Forum, a nonpartisan civic initiative bringing together politically diverse citizens to find common ground and shape policy proposals. The scheme has already run in three early primary states — South Carolina, New Hampshire and Nevada — with more than 300,000 participants across the political spectrum, and Shue said he had been struck by how readily people reached agreement once tasked with working together.