2 Ellie Oppenheim et al. UNHCR estimates there are over four million stateless people globally, with the actual figure likely much higher due to a lack of reporting on statelessness in approximately one half of the world’s countries (UNHCR, 2025). Despite this, little research has been conducted relating to the mental wellbeing of stateless people. Evidence identifies discrimination as a major stressor for asylum seekers and refugees (Hatch et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2017; Tinghög et al., 2017; Brunnet et al., 2018; Gkiouleka et al., 2018; Ziersch et al., 2020; Mougenot et al., 2021), contributing to difficulties accessing adequate education, housing, and employment, and difficulties socially integrating within their host country (Bakker et al., 2014; Quinn, 2014; Borsch et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2020; Ziersch et al., 2020). These findings highlight the relevance of understanding public attitudes towards stateless people, who may encounter similar stressors. While some research has explored public perceptions of specific stateless populations, notably the Rohingya (e.g. Jerin and Mozumder, 2019; Kamruzzaman et al., 2024), no research has been conducted that explores public attitudes towards stateless people more broadly. As such, this study aims to understand public attitudes towards stateless people as a general category, and to understand which factors may underpin these attitudes. Attitudes toward stateless individuals, asylum seekers, and refugees This article operationalises attitudes toward stateless people, asylum seekers, and refugees using two measures: (i) social policy attitudes, defined as support for policies that provide rights, protections, or assistance to these groups, and (ii) prejudice, reflecting negative feelings or biases toward the groups. Although there is no data relating to public attitudes towards stateless people in the United Kingdom (UK), data demonstrates that attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees are divided both in the UK and globally. Data suggests that the UK public has more social policy restrictive attitudes towards asylum seekers compared to other migrant groups, as measured by a desire to make it more difficult to migrate to the UK (The Migration Observatory, 2023). In contrast, attitudes towards refugees appear more positive, with the UK public tending to support social policies aimed at providing assistance to them (Amnesty International, 2016). Higher levels of public support for refugees may be related to refugees having legally recognised status as a protected group of people who have involuntarily left their home country (UN General Assembly, 1951), with qualitative findings from the UK (Lynn and Lea, 2003) and Australia (Hartley and Pedersen, 2015) finding that the public show more positive attitudes towards migrants perceived as ‘authorised’, ‘legal’, or ‘genuine’ than those perceived as ‘unauthorised’, ‘illegal’, or ‘bogus’. This is supported by findings from the United States that undergraduate students reported greater prejudice, perceived threat, and intergroup anxiety towards ‘unauthorised migrants’ compared with ‘authorised migrants’ (Murray and Marx, 2013). Findings also demonstrate stronger support for social policies aimed at supporting those perceived as involuntarily leaving their home country (Verkuyten et al., 2018). Many asylum seekers and stateless people struggle to gain legal recognition of involuntarily leaving their homes and are therefore less likely to be perceived as ‘authorised’ relative to refugees (UK Government, 2021; European Union Agency for Asylum, 2022). Variables associated with attitudes towards refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrant groups There are several variables that may be associated with public attitudes towards stateless individuals. As limited literature can be identified examining public attitudes towards stateless individuals, this study draws on the literature relating to variables associated with public attitudes https://doi.org/10.1017/S147474642510119X Published online by Cambridge University Press