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New Poll Shows Major Support for Canceling Student Loan on One Side of Political Aisle

A new poll indicates that a large portion of Democrats are in favor of canceling student loan debt. Among the respondents, 83% of Democrats believe canceling student debt entirely would greatly benefit those individuals.

According to Salon, among overall participants of the poll, 69% back the debt cancellation. This includes 59% of Independents and 41% of Republicans. Between Feb. 3 and 7 of this year, 1,000 people were polled about education loans and debt forgiveness. The results indicate that even those who’ve never had any student debt at all were largely in favor of the move.

Fifty-five percent of those who never incurred student debt were in favor of debt relief. Additionally, 89% of the people who currently have debt responded in favor of the debt cancellation.

“The strongest support came from Black Americans at 87%, followed by Hispanic (72%), Asian Americans and Pacific Islander (68%), and white (57%) respondents,” Salon reported.

Senior director of polling and analytics at the Hub Project Bryan Bennett says that the data collected, “shows that President Biden canceling student loan debt could be hugely consequential to millions of Americans facing significant financial burdens amidst the pain of rising costs—it would decrease the racial wealth gap and potentially help him regain support from Black and Hispanic Americans in particular, where he has seen erosion in job approval over the last few months.”

He also adds, “Even Americans who don’t carry student debt themselves are sympathetic and are supportive of loan forgiveness.”

Student Loan Debt at All Time High

Further, student debt is at an all-time high at $1.8 trillion dollars. It affects over 40 million Americans today. Recent urges to enact loan forgiveness have been pushed to President Biden since the mounting rise.

Former presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran a campaign on student loan forgiveness, responded to the latest debt numbers.

“Cancel it. Every penny,” tweeted the Vermont senator.

Additionally, progressive lawmakers and justice groups, including the Debt Collective have been reaching out to President Biden to make a move.

“Student debt is at $1.8 trillion. It will never be paid back, and we don’t mean that rhetorically,” the group said in a Thursday tweet. “The Department of Education literally knows the money cannot be paid back—it balloons too quickly and no one can afford it. It’s impossible. So just wipe it off the books, @POTUS.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic onset in March 2020, there was a pause on federal student loan debt. Since that time, those with debt were able to halt making payments towards their prior loans. However, come May, that will end and students will have to once again start making payments.