Americans divided on Biden student debt efforts: Survey

Americans are largely split on whether they approve how President Biden is handling the student loan debt issue, according to a new survey.

The poll results, released Tuesday from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Research Center, found that 30 percent of Americans strongly approve of how Biden has handled student loan debt. On the other side, 40 percent said they strongly disapproved.

The survey also found that those who are currently experiencing student debt were much more likely to consider financial relief from the government. Roughly 54 percent of those who are still paying off student loans now say they would consider debt relief while just 31 percent of those who have already paid off their loans said the same.

Survey takers were split along party lines about the importance of student loan forgiveness. About 58 percent of Democrats said it was an important issue, while 44 percent of independents and 15 percent of Republicans said the same, per the poll.

Americans were also more likely to support student loan forgiveness if the borrower was defrauded or misled by their school, has made on-time payments for at least 20 years and has accrued more interest than they initially borrowed, the survey found.

Biden has made student loan forgiveness a key part of his administration even after the Supreme Court struck down his first plan to address the issue last year. He announced a new student loan forgiveness plan in April that, if accepted, would help millions of borrowers.

The new plan largely focuses on borrowers with “runaway interest” or those who owe more money than they did at the start of repayment.

The poll also found that Democrats are more likely than independents or Republicans to support forgiving debt due to runaway interest, with 62 percent of Democrats approving compared to 37 percent of independents and 27 percent of Republicans.

The poll was conducted among 1,309 adults from May 16-21 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.