Free Money: Americans Weigh In on Universal Basic Income

Alice’s story is just one among 9.5 million other American workers who lost their jobs when the pandemic struck.

According to the U.S. Census, there were 37.2 million Americans in poverty in 2020. That was about 3.3 million more than in 2019.

With universal basic income, Alice, and those like her, could have received enough money to meet their essential needs and not have to take the first low-income job that came along. They wouldn’t have to apply for this money to prove their worthiness. They would just…

GET. THE. MONEY.

Although on the surface it sounds like a potentially life-saving benefit, universal basic income is fraught with political divisiveness.

MyPerfectResume wanted to get to the bottom of whether people from different backgrounds with vastly different political beliefs could support a Universal Basic Income.

So, we asked 900 American workers their opinions and collected jam-packed data that shows who was on board and who’d pass on universal basic income.

Although “basic” is in the name, some details need explaining.

The Basics of Universal Basic Income

How would you feel if someone handed you $1000?

No questions, no strings attached.

And you got this $1000 every month of the year… just for being a citizen.

I’d bet my bottom dollar you could think of a good use for it.

That’s the idea behind universal basic income (UBI). All citizens receive money from the government without having to apply or go through any bureaucratic red tape.

As can be seen from the infographic above, universal basic income is given to all citizens, regardless of need. Most UBI models are monthly payments, though some propose a lump sum.

The sum would vary depending on inflation. Some models propose $1000 a month.

There are two combined traits that are unique to a UBI: universality and unconditionality.

You’re thinking, “Where would these universal, unconditional payments come from?”

A couple possibilities:

• The wealthiest 1% of society

(Proposed by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes)

• A value-added tax, or VAT, of 10% on goods and services a company produces

(Proposed by Anthony Yang, former Presidential candidate)

• Transaction fees on trades of stocks, bonds, and deriva­tives, and/or fees applied to patent and royalty earnings

(Model created by James Boyce, UMASS Professor of Economics and Peter Barnes, co-founder of Credo Mobile and the author of “With Liberty and Dividends for All.”)

Those are a few concepts to float a program that could cost more than $3 trillion dollars a year.

Over the last sixty years, countries around the globe have executed versions of basic income experiments, pilots, programs, and policies (including current programs in the Netherlands, Finland, and Ontario).

In the U.S., a high-profile UBI experiment in Stockton, California gave randomly selected residents $500 per month for two years, no strings attached.

This experiment showed that the payments improved participants’:

• Job prospects
• Financial stability
• Overall well-being

Not only that, it stabilized previously vulnerable households as the pandemic started.

So, those are the basics of UBI. How many respondents had heard about it?

Awareness of UBI

Most of the survey respondents had heard of a universal basic income.

• 82% said they knew what universal basic income was

There was no significant statistical difference between the political party affiliations in terms of awareness of UBI.

As can be seen in the infographic above, those with higher education levels and who made more money knew more about the program.

• Also, 85% of men said they had heard of UBI, compared to 76% of women

This is interesting because women in America are more likely to be poor than men. And a UBI could be a means of somewhat evening the playing field between men and women.

It was important to provide all the survey takers with knowledge about UBI. As part of the survey, the participants read information about what it is and how it works, including the pros and cons of a UBI.

Opinions on a UBI

In August 2020, The Pew Research Center reported that, “More Americans oppose than favor the government providing a universal basic income for all adult citizens.”

According to their study:

Our study, conducted on 907 American workers, showed greater support for a UBI. And respondents with lower incomes showed higher levels of support for a UBI.

But by far, the most impressive statistical differences were visible from the political affiliation angle.

We gave respondents a series of statements and asked how much they agreed or disagreed with one. For each statement, those who identified as Democrats showed the greatest support for UBI.

But, a majority of all three political affiliations identified in the study: Republican, Democrat, and Independent were in favor of UBI.

For example, when asked how much they agree or disagree with this statement:

“UBI could help address income inequalities between men and women,”

58% of Republican-leaning respondents agreed. Not what you might expect.

But the Republican belief in the sovereignty of the people makes a case for people having more control with greater financial support.

For the statement about addressing gender inequalities, just 2% of Democratic-leaning strongly disagreed, vs. 9% of Republican-leaning and 13% of Independent-leaning.

Men agreed a bit more than women.

• 65% of men agreed
• 58% of women agreed

It was a bit unexpected that more men than women would see a UBI as a way to improve gender inequality. Perhaps they’ve become more sensitive to the unequal pay message we’ve heard over the years.

One of the main arguments against UBI is that it could make people lazy. They won’t want to work if they’re getting paid to do nothing.

To address this, the respondents were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the following statement:

“UBI could make people not want to work if they’re getting paid and not employed.”

As can be seen from the infographic above, Republican-leaning survey takers agreed the most at 73%

One of the main arguments for a UBI is that automation and AI are taking over many jobs in the States.

As many as half of our current occupations will vanish in the face of computerization, a recent Oxford University study argued. In this scenario, a UBI could help people adjust to the disappearance of large swaths of current job positions in the second machine age.

So we asked how much they agreed or disagreed with this statement:

“With advanced technology/automation/AI taking over more and more jobs, 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

Some argue that a UBI could empower domestic violence victims with the financial freedom to leave abusive partners. So we asked our respondents their opinion about the following statement:

“A UBI could make leaving an abusive partner easier from a financial point of view.”

A huge majority of Democratic-leaning survey takers agreed at 76%. But, Republican-leaning were also mostly in agreement at 67% and Independent-leaning at 63%.

Women and men agreed equally to this.

In terms of yearly salary, those who made the least agreed the most:

• Less than $25,000—75%
• $25-49,999—72%
• $50-74,999—70%
• $75,000 or more—67%

Next, we explored the idea that nixing social programs, such as welfare and replacing it with a UBI is a potential con.

“Sacrificing all social programs (like welfare) for the sake of a UBI is a terrible idea.”

Those with the highest salary agreed the most with this statement.

• $75,000 or more—62%
• $50-74,999—59%
• $25-49,999—49%
• Less than $25,000—47%

It’s clear that those who are disadvantaged and who might actually be using social support would prefer a UBI. Welfare has “worthiness” at its core. You have to prove your situation warrants the aid.

Most social welfare requires participants to show that they need the aid. Sometimes it is difficult to prove and there is a lot of bureaucracy to contend with. The idea of whether someone is “deserving” is central to social programs.

On the positive side, some say that a UBI could help enable more volunteer work. People would have greater financial freedom to spend their time helping others. Did our respondents agree? Here’s the statement we gave them:

“A UBI could help communities because those who aren’t scrambling to find a source of income would have more time to volunteer.”

The older group was more likely to disagree with this statement.

• Age 38 and under—9% disagreed
• Age 39 and above—20% disagreed 

A strong majority of Democratic-leaning respondents agreed, 67%, but most Republicans did too, 58%. Independent-leaning respondents were less enthusiastic though, less than half agreed, 49%.

As in the case of Alice at the start of this piece, many people who are desperate for work are forced to take jobs they don’t like. Proponents of a UBI argue that it would allow unemployed people to wait it out and find a more suitable job.

Here’s the statement we tested with our respondents:

“UBI could help people to get jobs they actually want, as they don’t have to rush into accepting a job they don’t like when they’re unemployed.”

• 18% of those age 38 and younger disagreed
• 14% of those 39 and older disagreed

In regard to political affiliation:

• 67% of Democratic-leaning agreed
• 58% of Republican-leaning agreed
• 55% of Independent-leaning agreed

Regarding personal income level:

• 33% of those who made $25,000 and under strongly agreed
• 29% of those who made $25,000-$49,999 strongly agreed
• 25% of those who made $75,000 or more strongly agreed
• 16% of those who made $50,000-$74,999 strongly agreed

(In 1955, Erich Fromm wrote a book called “Ways Out of a Sick Society”. Universal and unconditional basic income was one of those ways.)

The bottom line is whether UBI would be voted for if it came down to it.

Would You Vote “YES” to UBI?

Now that the survey takers had learned the specifics of universal basic income and had a chance to express their opinions, they were primed to “go to the primaries.”

As you can see from the infographic above, Democrats were hugely in favor of a UBI.

We asked: Would you vote “YES” to UBI?

• Overall, 80% said they would vote “YES”
• Democrat-leaning—85%
• Independent-leaning—78%
• Republican-leaning—72%

Men were more in favor than women: 83% would vote yes, vs. 76% of women.

Surprisingly, those whose incomes were between $50,000-$75,000 were more in favor—88%—than those who made less than $25,000—77%.

In terms of geographical location, those who live in the West said they’d vote “YES” the most

• West: 86%
• Northeast: 82%
• Midwest: 78%
• Southeast: 76%
• Southwest: 73%

The bottom line: the majority would vote “YES.”

It was important to give the survey takers a concrete, American example of a UBI in action that they could sink their teeth into, in order to know if it really can work. The best example of this is…

The Alaska Permanent Fund

Before you book your flight to the state known as the “Land of the Midnight Sun,” you won’t actually be handed a thousand Big Ones just driving through a toll, like in The Simpsons.

But, Alaska is an interesting state to visit or live in.

Fun facts about Alaska:

• Largest U.S. state
• No state tax
• Cheap and fresh seafood
• Capital: Juneau
• Large oil industry
• Moose’s Tooth Pizza (rated #3 in the country)
• Monthly dividend paid to all residents

This monthly dividend is called the Alaska Permanent Fund. It was established in Alaska in 1976 by Governor Jay Hammond and Attorney General Avrum Gross.

According to the Alaska Permanent Fund website:

Key Points:

• The Alaska Permanent Fund comes from surplus revenue obtained from Alaska's oil and gas reserves
• Payouts go to every citizen of Alaska who has a one-year or more residency (those who’ve been convicted of state felonies, are incarcerated, or are convicted of specific misdemeanors are not eligible)
• This year’s dividend: $1,114

So, yeah, you have to establish residency to receive this monthly dividend.

Apparently, the state known as the “Last Frontier” has a “people first” mentality.

To come back to Homer Simpson:

“We have a great life here in Alaska, and we’re never going back to America again!”

We provided those American workers in the study with information about the Alaska Permanent Fund to see their opinions on this benefit.

Opinions on the Alaska Permanent Fund

All survey takers were given details on the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) and asked what their opinion was on it. Their options were: positive, neutral, and negative.

The overall result:

• 63%—“positive”
• 32%—“neutral”
• 5%—“negative”

The younger age group (under 39) were more positive about it: 70%, compared to 58% of those 39 and over.

Women and men were nearly identical in their opinion: 63% positive for men and 64% positive for women.

Those whose incomes were highest at $75,000 or more had the least “positivity” about the APF at 57%. For all other income groups the level of positivity was very similar, scoring 64–65%.

And last, but certainly not least, the political affiliation filter was set.

• Democrat-leaning: 66% positive, 3% negative
• Republican-leaning: 64% positive, 7% negative
• Independent-leaning: 56% positive, 8% negative

We wanted to revisit the “would you vote ‘YES’” question to see if the APF information would have any impact on their opinions.

Would You Vote “YES” to UBI? (Redux)

But—we reworded the question to make it more state-specific:

“If your state wanted to try UBI would you support it?”

“YES”

• Democrat-leaning—87% 
• Independent-leaning—80%
• Republican-leaning—76%

Let’s rewind to the earlier question: “Would you vote “YES” to a UBI?” This question was posed before they had knowledge of the APF.

Percentages prior to learning about APF:

• Democrat-leaning—85%
• Independent-leaning—78%
• Republican-leaning—72%

It seems knowledge is influential, as all percentages increased.

Opinions are more than just numbers, so let’s hear from the respondents themselves.

In Their Own Words

We wanted to give the respondents an opportunity to voice their opinions, so we gave them the floor.

Here are some examples of their opinions on a UBI:

It was clear the respondents had thought deeply about this issue and had something valuable to share.

In Conclusion

The results of the survey show that most people, regardless of political affiliation, age, sex, and geographical location, agree with the idea of universal basic income.

Perhaps the pandemic reignited a bygone idea. The original idea of a universal income is quite old.

Although arguments are strong on both sides, most of the American workers surveyed are in favor of a universal and unconditional basic income.

Perhaps its time has come.

Methodology

We surveyed 907 respondents online via a bespoke polling tool on their thoughts and opinions on universal basic income. All respondents included in the study passed an attention-check question. The study was created through several steps of research, crowdsourcing, and surveying.

Limitations

The data we are presenting relies on self-reports from respondents. Each person who took our survey read and responded to each question without any research administration or interference. There are many potential issues with self-reported data like selective memory, telescoping, attribution, or exaggeration.

Some questions and responses have been rephrased or condensed for clarity and ease of understanding for readers. In some cases, the percentages presented may not add up to 100 percent; depending on the case, this can be due to rounding, or due to being part of a larger statistic, or due to responses of “neither/uncertain/unknown” not being presented.

Fair Use Statement

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About Us

At MyPerfectResume, we believe in empowering individuals about all aspects of the evolving job market, including discussions about universal income. Our extensive collection of resume examples, wide-assortment of professional resume templates, and user-friendly online resume builder equips you with the tools to showcase your skills and experience, enabling you to navigate career transitions and seize new opportunities. Explore our resources and create a standout resume to shape your professional future.