There is a long-standing debate in academic and policymaking circles about the normative merits and economic effects of a universal basic income (UBI). However, existing literature does not sufficiently address the question of which factors are associated with individual support for a UBI. While a large literature in political economy has focused on individual preferences for existing welfare state benefits, it has not analysed the case of a UBI. Using the eighth wave of the European Social Survey (ESS), this article seeks to remedy this gap by analysing individual support for a UBI in 21 European countries. The findings from logistic regression analyses with country fixed effects are partly consistent with the expectations of previous social policy and political economy literatures. Younger, low-income, left-leaning individuals and the unemployed are more likely to support a UBI. Individuals with positive views of benefit recipients and/or high trust in political institutions are also more supportive, while anti-immigration attitudes are associated with lower support. By contrast, the patterns across occupations are mixed and male respondents appear slightly more supportive. Trade union membership is not statistically significant, perhaps because of contradictory effects: unions typically support new welfare state policies but they also have a key role in many existing welfare state schemes and may worry about individuals’ attachment to the labour market. At the cross-national level, support tends to be higher where benefit activation is more pronounced and unemployment benefits less generous. These results suggest one possible reason why countries with high support for a UBI have not introduced it: the mixed support among the left means a pro-UBI coalition has to draw on right-wing voters who may support it only with lower taxes and/or extensive replacement of welfare state benefits, which in turn may further alienate parts of the left.

在学术界和决策界，关于普遍基本收入（UBI）的规范价值和经济影响存在着长期的争论。但是，现有文献不足以解决哪些因素与对UBI的个人支持有关。政治经济学的大量文献集中在对现有福利国家福利的个人偏好上，但它没有分析UBI的情况。本文使用欧洲社会调查（ESS）的第八次浪潮，通过分析21个欧洲国家对UBI的个人支持来弥补这一差距。具有国家固定效应的逻辑回归分析的结果部分与先前的社会政策和政治经济学文献的预期一致。年轻，低收入，左倾人士和失业者更有可能支持UBI。对受益人有积极看法和/或对政治机构高度信任的个人也更加支持，而反移民态度与较低的支持有关。相比之下，各职业的模式参差不齐，男性受访者似乎更支持。工会会员资格在统计上并不重要，可能是由于相互矛盾的影响：工会通常支持新的福利国家政策，但它们在许多现有的福利国家计划中也起着关键作用，并且可能担心个人对劳动力市场的依恋。在跨国层面上，支持趋向于更高，其中，利益激活更为明显，而失业救济则不那么慷慨。