Political Leanings and Redistribution Preferences: Analyzing Social Protection Programs in Poland Using Conjoint Survey Experiment

The nexus between social program preferences and political ideologies has emerged as a pivotal area in contemporary welfare reform and social policy discourse. This study uses a conjoint survey experiment on Poland’s most extensive children’s allowance social protection program in order to examine the extent to which political leaning affects spending adequacy, spending efficiency, and fiscal sustainability preferences. It shows that in Poland conservative voters favor higher social spending adequacy, while progressive voters prefer more efficient and fiscally sustainable social spending, and that progressive voters are against national discrimination in social benefits, while conservative voters are indifferent to it. This paper provides valuable insights into Polish preferences for social protection programs and illustrates how political ideologies are associated with public support for welfare policies.