A Majority of Voters Support Canceling Student Debt
By Anika Dandekar and Bella Kumar
In previous polling, Data for Progress and Student Borrower Protection Center have shown how consistently popular forgiving student loan debt is — even among majorities of those with no bachelor’s degrees, those who already paid off their student loans, and those who never had student loans. We also found a majority of voters under age 50, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike support student loan debt cancelation.
Today, President Biden announced a plan to cancel at least $10,000 worth of student debt for those earning less than $125,000 a year and to pause student loan repayments through December 31st, 2022. New polling from Data for Progress and Student Borrower Protection Center — fielded from August 19th to August 21st, 2022 — shows that a majority of voters continue to support canceling student loan debt and the current pause on student loan repayments.
Federal Action on Student Loan Debt Remains Popular with Voters
A majority of voters (60 percent) support the federal government eliminating ‘all’ or ‘some’ student loan debt for every borrower. This includes 81 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of Independents, and 45 percent of Republicans. Eighty-eight percent of voters who are current student loan borrowers, 57 percent of voters who no longer have student loans, and 54 percent of voters who never had student loans are in favor of the federal government eliminating at least some student loan debt for every borrower.
We also find that voters support paused payments on federally-held student loans and suspended debt collection on defaulted loans by a +31-point margin. This includes Democrats by a +70-point margin and Independents by a +29-point margin. This popularity holds true among voters who are current borrowers (+68-point margin), past student borrowers (+30-point margin), and voters who never had student loans (+23-point margin).
Conclusion
This study finds that the Biden Administration’s moves to cancel student debt and pause student loan repayments remain popular with voters. This announcement is a first step towards enacting a widely popular policy that will protect victims of fraud, help Americans plan for their future, and significantly narrow the racial wealth gap to create a more just America that works for everyone.
Anika Dandekar (@AnikaDandekar) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress
Bella Kumar (@bellakkumar) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.