President Biden’s student loan relief, a campaign priority for the incumbent Democratic president, is supported by just 30% of Americans, according to a new national poll released Tuesday.
A new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Policy Research found that 3 in 10 American adults approve of Biden’s handling of the student loan debt crisis, while 4 in 10 disapprove. The rest of the respondents were neutral or said they didn’t know enough to decide.
Among people who have outstanding student loan debt for themselves or their family members, just 36% approve of Biden’s handling of the benefits, while 34% disapprove.
The survey revealed deep divisions over the issue of student loan relief, even as Biden touts a new student loan forgiveness plan to energize young, Black and Hispanic Americans, groups that tend to prioritize student loan relief but have lower approval ratings for the president, according to the Associated Press.
What to know about Biden’s latest student loan forgiveness attempt
President Biden speaks about student loan debt at the University of Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
After President Biden’s first attempt at a broad student loan grant was struck down by the Supreme Court last year, he proposed a more targeted plan to provide relief to specific groups of borrowers. His administration has separately forgiven the student loan debt of about 4 million people through existing programs, according to the Associated Press.
The survey results show that Americans overall have a negative view of the Supreme Court’s handling of student loan entitlements, with 15% approving of the Court’s efforts on the issue and about a quarter disapproving.
The poll was conducted May 16-21, 2024 among 1,309 adults using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Biden’s new plan The program would cancel some or all of the debt for several groups, including people who are paying so much interest that they owe more than the amount they originally borrowed, people who have been paying off their undergraduate loans for at least 20 years, people who completed low-value college programs that left them graduating with too much debt relative to their income, and people facing other financial hardships.
President Biden speaks in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, April 8, 2024, about an alternative student loan relief plan that could forgive loans for up to 26 million Americans. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Kevin O’Leary slams Biden’s student loan deal as ‘unfair’ and ‘un-American’: ‘I really, really hate it’
The poll found that neither of these categories is supported by a majority of Americans.
Just under half supported relief for people who have made good payments for 20 years, and 44% supported relief for people who now owe more than they originally borrowed. About four in 10 supported relief for people who took out loans from financial institutions that were overpaying relative to their incomes or who were facing other financial hardships.
President Biden speaks in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
About four in 10 adults say it is extremely or very important that the federal government provide student loan debt relief. A similar share say it is not very important or not at all important, and about a quarter in the middle think it is somewhat important. Only 15% of Republicans say it is extremely or very important for the government to prioritize action on student loans, compared with 58% of Democrats.
Republicans often say taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for someone else’s college tuition.
Click here to get the FOX News app
The poll found that younger people were more likely to prioritize government action on the student loan issue, with roughly half of those under 45 saying it was “extremely important” or “very important,” while just three in 10 older people said the same.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
