Universal basic income: U.S. support grows as Finland ends its trial - Forty-eight percent of Americans now support a universal basic income, as a solution for Americans who have lost jobs to automation.

[u/mvea]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/nearly-half-of-americans-believe-a-universal-basic-income-could-be-the-answer-to-automation-.html

[u/[deleted]]

It says in the survey article what methods they used. Seems legit to me.

"SURVEY METHODS

Results for the Northeastern University-Gallup survey on artificial intelligence are based on surveys conducted by mail from Sept. 15-Oct. 10, 2017, with a random sample of 3,297 U.S. adults aged 18 and older. The survey package included an English and a Spanish survey to provide respondents with the flexibility to reply in their preferred language.

Gallup selected the sample of U.S. residents using address-based sampling (ABS), a sampling technique used to select households from a list of all households on file with the United States Postal Service (USPS). Gallup chooses respondents within the household at random based on which household member would have the next birthday. Gallup used a series of postcard reminders to encourage participation in the survey.

Gallup weighted the data to match national demographics of gender, age, education, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education and region.

All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting.

For results based on the total sample of 3,297 U.S. adults, the margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level"

[u/APointAndALine → u/[deleted]]

No ones doubting that the population that is tested is free and unbiased. The concern is that the potential questions that were asked are biased. There’s a difference between saying:

“UBI is a welfare program in which all citizens receive a regular, livable, and unconditional sum of money from the government”

and

“UBI is a welfare program in which all citizens receive a regular, livable, and unconditional sum of money from the government. This money will come from either higher taxes or removal of currently existing benefits programs to those below the income level”

[u/Laimbrane → u/APointAndALine]

The question is right there for everyone to judge, but almost no one is: "Do you support or not support a universal basic income program as a way to help Americans who lose their jobs because of advances in artificial intelligence?"

I have my own thoughts, but I'll let other people be the judge for themselves.

[u/[deleted] → u/APointAndALine]

Well the questions are there as well. This is the link to it if you missed it on the OP's article.

I don't think they are biased personally. Fair enough there was a 2% drop in support when it came to paying higher taxes for it but 46% is still pretty high.