Who Supports Redistributive Education Policies? Attitudes Toward Free Tutoring for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children Conditional or Unconditional on Academic Performance

This study examines public support for redistributive education policies, focusing on free private tutoring for socioeconomically disadvantaged children in Germany. Using a vignette-based survey experiment with a nationwide sample drawn from a probability-based offline-recruited panel ( N = 1331), we investigated whether support varies depending on whether access to tutoring is conditional on students’ academic performance. Policy support was measured along three dimensions: agreement with the policy, perceived fairness, and evaluation of beneficiary parents. The results show broad baseline support for providing free tutoring to children with low socioeconomic status. However, support is significantly higher when access is conditional on poor academic performance. Conditionality also increases perceived fairness and leads to more positive evaluations of beneficiary parents, suggesting that respondents interpret performance-based eligibility as a signal of deservingness and need. Inequality-oriented dispositions are consistently related to policy attitudes: Left-leaning respondents are more supportive, whereas respondents with higher social dominance orientation or stronger malicious envy are less supportive. Instrumental factors such as income and education play only a limited role. Overall, support for redistributive education policies varies more with ideological orientations than with respondents’ material position. Conditionality increases support but does not substantially reduce ideological divides. These results contribute to broader debates on equity and public support for welfare and education policies.