As the Supreme Court’s decision on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan looms, a majority of Americans continue to support it, according to a poll conducted exclusively for Newsweek.
The Biden administration says that 26 million people have applied to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven under the plan.
Delivering on a campaign promise, the plan would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income per year. Pell Grant recipients would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.
But Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress have opposed the plan, pointing to its hefty price tag and calling it a violation of Biden’s executive authority. During oral arguments in February, the high court’s conservative justices also questioned the administration’s authority to broadly cancel federal student loans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The court is expected to rule on the challenges to the plan by June.
A new poll by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, conducted on behalf of Newsweek, found that 62 percent of Americans support the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. The same percentage said they backed the plan in a poll conducted in March, indicating that widespread support for the plan has remained steady in recent months.
For the latest poll, Redfield and Wilton Strategies surveyed 1,500 eligible voters in the United States on May 17.
It found that 62 percent of people surveyed said they support the plan—half of them “strongly,” while just 15 percent oppose it. Another 15 percent said they neither support nor oppose the plan.
Support was highest among younger Americans, the poll found.
More than two-thirds (67 percent) of those aged 18 to 24 said they support the plan, as well as 76 percent of those aged 25 to 34. About half of those aged between 55 and 64 said they support the plan, with those aged 65 and over expressing the same level of support.
Biden voters were far more likely to back the plan, the poll found. But a considerable number of those who said they voted for Donald Trump in 2020 also said they supported it.
About three-quarters (74 percent) of Biden voters said they backed the plan, while just 5 percent opposed it. About half (48 percent) of Trump voters said they supported it, while 29 percent opposed it. Those breakdowns were also similar to the poll conducted in March.
Earlier this month, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona confirmed that the administration is preparing to restart student loan repayments later this year.
“The emergency period is over, and we’re preparing our borrowers to restart,” Cardona said at a Senate Appropriations hearing.
Loan payments have been on pause since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. They are set to restart 60 days after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Biden’s plan, regardless of the outcome. If the matter has not been resolved by June 30, payments will resume 60 days after that.