Johnson Matthew, Johnson Elliott, Nettle Daniel
Northumbria University, Lipman Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST UK.
Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL, CNRS, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France.
Br Politics. 2023;18(1):104-127. doi: 10.1057/s41293-022-00220-z. Epub 2022 Oct 18.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is often presented as desirable in theory, but unsaleable electorally. Policymakers fear intuitive, 'values'-based opposition from socially conservative voters, whom the policy would benefit materially, but who might regard it as 'giving others something for nothing'. We provide evidence from 'red wall' constituencies in Wales and the Midlands and North of England that indicates this presumption of voters is wrong. In Study 1, we find high levels of support for the policy, with different narrative framings more effective for different groups based on their material interests. In Study 2, we used a novel 'adversarial collaboration' method to show that simple narratives can strongly increase support for UBI even among respondents who initially see themselves as fundamentally opposed. The generated narratives stressed positive, material consequences of introducing UBI, rather than conformity with abstract values. This indicates that policymakers should exercise caution over 'values'-based explanations for preferences.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41293-022-00220-z.
普遍基本收入（UBI）在理论上往往被认为是可取的，但在选举中却不受欢迎。政策制定者担心社会保守选民基于直觉和“价值观”的反对，而这项政策会让这些选民从物质上受益，但他们可能会认为这是“不劳而获”。我们从威尔士以及英格兰中部和北部的“红墙”选区提供的证据表明，选民的这种假设是错误的。在研究1中，我们发现对该政策的支持率很高，不同的叙事框架根据不同群体的物质利益对他们更有效。在研究2中，我们使用了一种新颖的“对抗性合作”方法来表明，即使在最初认为自己根本反对的受访者中，简单的叙事也能极大地增加对普遍基本收入的支持。所产生的叙事强调了引入普遍基本收入的积极物质后果，而不是与抽象价值观的契合。这表明政策制定者应该谨慎对待基于“价值观”的偏好解释。
在线版本包含可在10.1057/s41293-022-00220-z获取的补充材料。
