Supreme Court, Republicans to blame for lack of debt forgiveness, students say in poll

The Supreme Court and Republicans are on the top of the list for college students and recent graduates to blame for the lack of student debt relief after the high court’s recent ruling striking down President Biden's forgiveness plan, according to a new poll from Generation Lab. 

The survey released Tuesday showed 47 percent of college students and recent graduates across the country blame the Supreme Court for unforgiven student loan debt, while Republicans came in second place at 38, 10 percent blamed the president and only 4 percent blamed Democrats. 

The Supreme Court at the end of June ruled against Biden’s up to $20,000 in student debt relief, a decision that was celebrated by Republicans and denounced by Democrats. 

The challengers in the case that ultimately led to the demise of the president’s plan were six Republican-led state attorneys general. 

The poll found 77 percent of young people knew about the court’s recent decision, while 23 percent did not. 

Sixty-one percent of those surveyed did not agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, and only 17 percent did. Twenty-one percent were not sure if they agreed or disagreed with the court’s decision. 

The results of the survey were first reported by Axios.

The student debt relief would have helped more than 40 million borrowers with student debt, costing around $400 billion. 

Biden has been sure to keep all eyes on Republicans after the plan was shot down by the court. 

“I didn’t give any false hope,” he previously said when questioned if he led borrowers astray in thinking they would get relief. “The Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given.”

Immediately after the decision, Biden introduced a new path to student debt relief, but it will take months to go through the negotiated rulemaking process. The administration also recently forgave student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers. 

Republicans have continued to be vocal against Biden’s attempts at student loan forgiveness, arguing it is unfair to those who have paid off their debts or did not go to college. 

"The Biden administration’s blatantly political attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court is shameful. The Biden administration is trampling the rule of law, hurting borrowers, and abusing taxpayers to chase headlines,” Chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said after the loan forgiveness for 800,000 borrowers. 

The Generation Lab poll was conducted between July 12 and July 17, surveying 783 college students and recent graduates across the country. The unweighted margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.