- ORIGINAL NEWS
GOP presidential candidates agree: Student loan borrowers shouldn’t get forgiveness
- SUMMARY
A consensus among the remaining contenders in the 2024 Republican primary race is their opposition to student loan debt forgiveness.
Their reasoning commonly revolves around the unfairness of burdening taxpayers with the cost of paying off loans they didn’t accrue, while others who have responsibly paid off their loans or made different career choices would be left out.
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are among the prominent figures strongly opposing student loan forgiveness, emphasizing the unequal impact it would have on taxpayers.
Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson share similar views, with Haley emphasizing the misuse of executive authority and Hutchinson highlighting the importance of personal responsibility.
In contrast to this stance, President Joe Biden actively supports canceling student loan debt and has taken steps to alleviate some of this burden, resulting in roughly $132 billion in debt relief for over three million borrowers.
However, his broader $400 billion relief plan was struck down by the Supreme Court.
Public opinion leans towards supporting at least partial student loan forgiveness, with a 2-to-1 margin favoring such policies, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll.
Only a minority of voters oppose this idea.
Outstanding student loan debt in the United States exceeds $1.6 trillion, overshadowing other types of debt such as credit cards and auto loans.
The average loan balance at graduation has also seen a significant increase, rising from $10,000 in the 1990s to $30,000 today.
- NEWS SENTIMENT CHECK
- Overall sentiment:
negative
Positive
“The Biden administration has also been able to wipe out nearly $132 billion of student debt for more than 3 million people using existing authority.”
“Voters support forgiving at least some student loan debt by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll.”
Negative
“DeSantis said that it’s wrong to saddle taxpayers with the expense of student loan forgiveness.”
“Ramaswamy said America had a bad habit “of paying people to do the exact opposite of what we want them to do.”