A quarter of Americans support forgiving all federal student-loan debt

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A quarter of Americans support forgiving all federal student-loan debt
Student-loan debt reached a national high of $1.5 trillion in 2019.Boston Globe/Getty Images
  • Democrats have been going back and forth on how much federal student-loan debt to forgive.
  • President Biden supports up to $10,000, while some progressive Dems are calling for $50,000.
  • A new Insider poll found a quarter of Americans support forgiving all federal student loans.
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Recently, Democrats have been clashing over how much federal student-loan debt to forgive.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer called for $50,000 in student loan forgiveness, but President Joe Biden essentially rejected that plan, throwing his support behind $10,000 in forgiveness.

"I will not make that happen," Biden said of the $50,000 proposal at a CNN town hall. Democrats like Warren, Schumer, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on their support for the higher loan forgiveness.

In Insider's most recent poll, respondents were asked: "A policy under consideration would forgive an amount of student loan debt held by Americans. Do you support this? And if so, what amount?"

Out of 1,154 respondents:

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  • 25% support "forgiving all federal student loans."
  • 13% support forgiving $50,000 in federal student loans, while 12% support forgiving $25,000.
  • 19% support forgiving $10,000 in federal student loans.
  • 22% of respondents said "I do not support any amount of student loan forgiveness."
  • 9% of respondents said "I don't know."

When it came to party affiliations, respondents varied in how much forgiveness they wanted. Here are some key statistical takeaways:

  • 30% of respondents who said they would probably vote in their state's Democratic primaries or caucuses in order to support forgiving all federal student loans.
  • 15% of likely Republican voters also support forgiving all federal student loans.
  • 30% of respondents who would "probably participate in another primary or caucus" said they support forgiving all federal student loans
  • 25% of respondents who don't vote in primaries also support complete forgiveness.
  • 20% of both likely Republican and Democratic voters support $10,000 in federal student loan forgiveness.
  • 20% of likely Democratic voters support $50,000 in forgiveness, as do 9% of likely Republican voters.
  • Conversely, 40% of likely Republicans don't support any "amount of student loan forgiveness," while 10% of likely Democratic voters don't support any amount of forgiveness.

There was also some division between different age groups:

  • 33% of respondents between the ages of 30 and 44 support forgiving all federal student loans, the highest percentage among age groups.
  • Conversely, 40% of respondents over 60 do not support any amount of student loan forgiveness, the highest percentage among age groups. Only 11% of respondents ages 18 to 29 don't support any forgiveness, the lowest percentage among different age groups.

As Insider's Hillary Hoffower and Madison Hoff previously reported, forgiving student loan debt - even just $10,000, like in Biden's proposal - could benefit millions of Americans.

Importantly, student loan forgiveness could make a tangible impact in narrowing the racial wealth gap. Black students graduate with more debt than their white peers. Further, around 87% of Black students at four-year colleges take out loans, while 60% of white students take out loans.

SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,154 respondents February 22, 2021 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.

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