A proposal prominently mentioning Basic Income has been voted 12th out of 20 ideas as part of the Big Ideas project, run by the Progressive Change Institute. A group of over 30 US congresspeople have committed to ‘taking a serious look at the 20 big ideas that rose to the top’.
The project was designed to allow people ‘to submit and vote on big ideas they believe progressives should champion in 2015 and 2016′. The ideas were then opened to public vote on their website thinkbig.us.
The proposal featuring Basic Income, which received 6,722 votes, is a quote from Martin Luther King and reads: “We are demanding an emergency program to provide employment for everyone in need of a job, or if a work program is impractical, a guaranteed annual income at levels that sustain life in decent circumstances. It is now incontestable that the wealth and resources of the United States make the elimination of poverty absolutely practical”. The proposal was first and then in the top 5 for some time before dropping to 12th close to the end of polling. Another proposal, mentioning specifically Universal Basic Income, which had also been in the top 20, eventually finished 83rd with over 2,500 votes.
When the vote was finished and before the State of the Union address, the Institute released a poll conducted by GBA Strategies amongst likely voters which stated that 59% were supportive of a minimum guaranteed income. The full question read ‘Close loopholes that allow corporations and millionaires to pay less taxes than ordinary Americans, and use the money to expand Social Security to Americans of all ages, so that everyone has a guaranteed minimum income.’ Responders were asked to rate their support on a scale of 1-10 however the complete breakdown was not published. The sample size for the poll was 1,500.
For further information, see:
The Big Ideas Project, “Top 20 Big Ideas”, The Big Ideas Project, 18 January 2015
Progressive Change institute, “Poll of 2016 likely voters‘, Progressive Change Institute, 20 January 2015
