Staff Reports
A Bankrate poll indicates that 18% of respondents believe their choice in the forthcoming presidential contest would be greatly influenced by their student loan debt. For those with student loan debt themselves, this number jumps to 28%; for those carrying debt for someone else, it increases to up to 30%. These results follow a month after the Biden government canceled another $7.7 billion in student debt, therefore relieving the total debt load to $167 billion for 4.75 million people. This explains around 10% of all federal student debt, far less than the $430 billion loan forgiveness suggested in President Joe Biden's original proposal, which the Supreme Court rejected last year.
Just thirty percent of adults agree of Biden's management of student loan debt, while forty percent disagree. With 35% of millennials seeing college loans as a major factor influencing their voting choice, those loaded with debt are most inclined to view them as such. By contrast, just 22% of Generation Z and 24% of Generation X people with school debt consider it to be a substantial influence.
Washington Examiner: Nearly a fifth of people say student loan debt major factor in vote https://t.co/DpsbWfbbOw
— Ian Hansen 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@IanHansenFeed) June 17, 2024
Nearly a quarter of those with student loan debt also said they struggle to pay their monthly bills or have skipped at least one payment since payments started in October 2023. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the proportion of people believing student loan debt represents a national catastrophe dropped from 32% last year to 29%. Likewise, from 31% to 27% of respondents feel the federal government has not done enough to help borrowers.
Moreover, the poll shows that those who have personal student loan debt are more likely to say that the government has not done sufficient action to assist debtors, although this percentage has dropped from 48% in 2023 to 35% in 2024.
Former President Donald Trump, who stopped loan payments and interest during the COVID-19 epidemic, commended the Supreme Court's ruling to reject Biden's original plan to forgive student loan debt, calling it "very unfair to the millions and millions of people who paid their debt by hard work and diligence."
