Joe Biden's student loan policy garners only 36% of Americans' approval as per nationwide survey

WASHINGTON, DC: The results of a recent nationwide survey that was made public on Tuesday, June 11, show that Americans are deeply divided over President Joe Biden's student loan handouts, which is a campaign priority for the Democratic incumbent.

According to a recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, three out of ten American adults say they approve of the way Biden has handled the problem of student loan debt, while four out of ten disagree. The others claim they don't know enough to comment or are neutral.

The results reveal a deep divide over the issue of student debt relief

Merely 36% of participants who are accountable for outstanding student loan debt, either on their own or for a family member, express approval of Biden's management of the assistance, while 34% express disapproval.

The findings show that opinions on student loan relief are sharply divided, despite Biden's aggressive efforts to energize young adults and Black and Hispanic Americans by moving forward with a new cancellation plan. According to the Associated Press, those groups have flagging approval for the president but are more likely to prioritize student loan relief.

The findings also demonstrated that Americans' opinions of the Supreme Court's treatment of student loan handouts were generally less favorable, with 15% of respondents favoring its work on the matter and roughly 25% disapproving.

How was the survey on Joe Biden's student loan policy conducted?

1,309 adults participated in the survey, which was conducted from May 16 to May 21, 2024, using a sample taken from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is intended to be representative of the country's population. For each respondent, the sampling error margin is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Joe Biden’s new plan would erase some or all debt for several groups

Under Biden's new plan, debt for several groups would be forgiven entirely, including those who owe more than they originally borrowed due to interest accumulation, those who have been repaying student loans for at least 20 years, those who attended low-quality colleges and graduated with large debt loads relative to their earnings, and those who are experiencing other forms of financial hardship.

Majority of Americans support none of these categories

According to the survey, the majority of Americans do not support any of the aforementioned categories.

Relief for those who have made 20 years of on-time payments is supported by just under half of respondents, while 44% of those who now owe more on their loan than they borrowed are in favor of it.

About 4 out of 10 people who attended an institution where borrowers were left with high debt loads relative to their incomes or who were experiencing other types of financial hardship were in favor of it.

Approximately 40% of adults stated that student debt relief is extremely or very important to the federal government. About 25% of respondents said they thought it was somewhat important, while a similar percentage said it was neither too important nor important at all.

Compared to 58% of Democrats, only 15% of Republicans felt that government action on student debt should be prioritized.

Republicans often say taxpayers should not get burdened with repaying other people’s college debt. Younger adults are more likely than older adults to prioritize government action on student debt, according to the poll. Approximately half of those under 45 said they thought it was extremely or very important, compared to 3 out of 10 older adults who agreed.

Internet gives mixed response to Joe Biden's handling of student debt relief

Netizens gave their opinions concerning the current president's handling of student debt relief.

One X (formerly Twitter) user penned, "Cancelling student debt while you cancelled COVID grants for Hundred of thousands SME." Another wrote, "It's not handout, it's support of students getting bled dry by greedy companies and schools."

"Let me guess, the 3 in 10 either have student loan debt or will have?" asked one while another commented, "1 in 10 Americans approved of 3 trillion in tax cuts to the 1% and rich corporations." "Of course the 3 in favor are receiving the taxpayer bailout!" echoed one user. 

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.