Report: Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Divides Americans

The August 2022 Daily Kos/Civiqs Poll asked 1,295 registered voters in the United States about student loans, debt forgiveness, abortion rights, COVID-19, monkeypox, and more.

Student Loan Debt

Americans are split over President Biden’s federal student loan debt forgiveness plan. Half (49%) approve of forgiving up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt for Americans who earn less than $125,000. A nearly equal 48% of voters disapprove. About 9 in 10 Democrats (88%) approve of the debt forgiveness plan, but 88% of Republicans and 56% of Independents disapprove.

While 21% of voters like Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness plan as is, an additional 25% think that Biden should have forgiven even more student debt. Younger Democrats feel most strongly that the plan could have gone farther (61% among those aged 18-34) -- although 23% express satisfaction with the plan as is. Older Democrats tend to express satisfaction with the plan as is (51%) rather than wishing it did more (31%). Majorities of Republicans (88%) and Independents (54%) think no student loan debt should have been forgiven.

The impact of Biden’s student loan plan will be widely felt. One in four Americans (24%) say they currently hold student loan debt. Of these, most (54%) say that their student loans are difficult to pay back. Only 17% say that paying back their loans is easy, and 29% say that while their loans are not easy to pay back, it is manageable. Overall, 23% of Americans feel that student loan debt relief will help them, either a lot (12%) or a little (11%). Another 36% of voters say that Biden’s student debt relief plan will not have any impact on them. Notably, 33% of Americans, including 61% of Republicans and 39% of Independents, say Biden’s debt relief action will make things worse for them.

Abortion Rights

Americans believe that abortion rights should be protected under the Constitution. A majority (53%) think that the Supreme Court made the wrong decision in recently overturning Roe v. Wade, while 43% think it was the right decision. Women are opposed to the Supreme Court decision by a margin of 57% to 39%. Men are more evenly divided, with half (50%) saying it was the wrong decision and 46% saying it was the right decision.

A plurality (47%) of Americans support Congress passing a bill that would make the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision into a federal law; 39% are opposed. In a June 2022 Daily Kos/Civiqs poll, taken before the Supreme Court announced its decision, 45% supported Congress passing a bill to make the Roe v. Wade decision into law, with 42% opposed. Democrats (76% to 18%) and Independents (44% to 37%) support codifying abortion rights, while Repubicans oppose it 66% to 16%.

January 6th and the 2020 Presidential Election

Over half of Americans (51%) think that everyone who broke into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021 should be arrested. Another 27% support arresting people if they were violent or caused damage. Only 19% of voters, led by 36% of Republicans, do not support arresting anyone who broke into the Capitol building on January 6th. These results are similar to Daily Kos/Civiqs poll results from July 2021 and February 2022.

One-third (34%) of Americans still agree with former President Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Another 10% say they are unsure. Among frequent Fox News viewers, 79% say the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. The percentage of Republicans who believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump has fallen from 80% in July 2021 to 69% today.

COVID-19 and Monkeypox

Americans are not very concerned about COVID-19 causing disruptions at their local public schools this year. As schools start up again, 10% are extremely concerned, 21% are moderately concerned, 22% are a little concerned, and 44% are not concerned at all. Democrats are the most concerned about disruptions this year (14% extremely; 35% moderately), while a majority of Republicans (69%) and half of Independents (50%) are not concerned at all.

Few Americans feel concerned about the possibility of a monkeypox outbreak in their local area. Only 8% are extremely concerned, 15% are moderately concerned, 25% are a little concerned, and 50% are not concerned at all. A large majority of Republicans (79%) and Independents (57%) are not concerned at all, while 21% of Democrats say the same.

_Civiqs surveyed 1,295 registered voters in the United States from August 27-30, 2022. The survey was conducted online, among selected members of the Civiqs research panel. Sampled individuals were emailed by Civiqs and responded using a personalized link to the survey at civiqs.com. The survey results are weighted by age, race, gender, education, party identification, and region to be representative of the population of registered voters in the United States. The general design effect due to weighting is 1.07. The survey has a margin of error of ±2.8% at the 95% confidence level, accounting for the design effect. _