The issue of student-debt cancellation mostly divides American voters on political party lines, according to a new MorningConsult/Politico poll.
The new poll, published Wednesday, found that 48% of registered voters agree with President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt for certain borrowers. In the survey, 43% said they oppose the plan of canceling student loan debt for those individuals, and 9% of respondents said they have no opinion.
Biden announced last week he would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers who make less than $125,000 annually and $20,000 for borrowers who are Pell Grant recipients. He also announced an extension of the debt payment pause for at least four months. The payments have been on hold since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than half of voters support extending the student loan payment moratorium, removing interest for payers who are up to date on their debt payments, and lowering monthly payments for borrowers. But in all three cases, GOP backing was at least 40 percentage points lower than Democrats' support, Morning Consult notes.
While 72% of Democrat respondents said they agreed with the proposed initiative, and just 19% said they opposed the move, among Republicans, 67% oppose canceling the debt, and 26% showed support for the proposal.
Many Republicans contend that the plan is unfair for borrowers who already paid off their loans, while Democrats argue that the initiative doesn’t go far enough. Economists, meanwhile, are split.
The vast majority of people who owe student loan debt (73%) said they agree with the administration's initiative, while only 22% said they were opposed.
The high cost of college tuition is an issue of great concern to voters. Three-quarters of registered voters said they would support a plan by the White House to address high college tuition costs, including 86% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans.
The new MorningConsult/Politico poll was conducted Aug. 26-28 with a total of 2,007 respondents participating in the survey. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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