Universal Basic Income: 900+ Americans Give Their Opinions
Have you heard of the “Yang Gang?”
This is a term for the online fanbase for Andrew Yang. Yang was campaigning to become president in 2020.
The core of his campaign message was a universal basic income for all. He touted this message in Time Magazine and other news outlets and gained a lot of attention for this topic.
Universal basic income means the government gives free money to every citizen. You don’t need to apply or prove you need it. Rich, poor. Doesn’t matter. Andrew Yang proposed $1000 per month, but the increases would depend on the rate of inflation.
Some countries and U.S. states have experimented with a universal basic income.
But, it’s a divisive topic. There are both pros and cons to this idea.
That’s why MyPerfectResume conducted a study to explore the opinions on universal basic income. They asked 900+ Americans if they would support this type of government aid.
Political Party Affiliation Affected Opinions
Well, Andrew Yang was running as a Democrat and the Democrats in the study were more supportive of a universal basic income (UBI).
The respondents’ shared their political affiliations for the purpose of the survey.
Respondents were asked if a UBI was a “good idea.”
- 73% of Democratic-leaning agreed
- 62% of Republican-leaning agreed
- 47% of independent-leaning agreed
Regardless of political affiliation, the responses showed that there was decent support for the concept of a UBI.
One major argument against a UBI is the idea that people will become lazy if they get paid and don’t need to work. The survey takers were asked if they agreed with this.
- 73% of Republican-leaning agreed
- 62% of Democrat-leaning agreed
- 47% of independent-leaning agreed
As we all know, Artificial Intelligence and automation pose a threat to many jobs. Those in the study were also asked if they agreed that a UBI would act as a security net for the people who’ll lose their jobs.
- 73% of Democratic-leaning agreed
- 65% of Republican-leaning agreed
- 61% of independent-leaning agreed
After seeing that Democrats were more supportive of a UBI, it was time for the survey takers to be put to the test to find out how they’d vote if they were asked to.
A Mock Vote x2
The American workers in the survey all were asked to “vote” on a UBI. But, there was a catch. They were asked if they would vote yes before they knew about a well-known UBI experiment that has gone on since 1976 in Alaska called the Alaska Permanent Fund.
So—
First, they were asked if they’d vote yes prior to knowing about the Alaska Permanent Fund.
Here are the results:
- Overall, 80% said they would vote “YES”
Who voted yes?
85% of Democratic-leaning
78% of independent-leaning
72% of Republican-leaning
They gave the survey takers information about what the Alaska Permanent Fund is and how it’s distributed. Then, they were asked again if they’d support a UBI if their state wanted to implement it.
Here are the re-vote results:
- Overall, 82% said they would vote “YES”
That’s up 2 percentage points from the previous voting question.
Regardless of political affiliation, a UBI was viewed more favorably after they learned about the Alaska Permanent Fund.
87% of Democrat-leaning would support a UBI, 80% of independent-leaning, and 76% of Republican-leaning.
It suggests that greater knowledge about how a UBI actually works increases support of it.
The Main Takeaway
The 900+ American employees were highly supportive of a universal basic income.
Like the “Yang Gang,” they might agree with Yang’s sentiment:
“Universal basic income is not a solution in search of a problem—it is the obvious solution that has been in front of us for years. It only requires us to have the vision, empathy, and courage to adopt it for the American people before it is too late.” [1]
With 37.2 million Americans in poverty in 2020, it might be time to look to Alaska (and the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Ontario) and how their UBI experiments have proven successful. Perhaps UBI’s time has come for all Americans to benefit from.
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