THE PREMISE POLL: 73% of Poll Respondents Approve of President Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Plan; Only 27% Feel the Plan Goes Too Far

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Aug 30, 2022, 10:47 ET

Despite overall approval of the plan, 73% of respondents are still somewhat or very concerned with the plan's impact on inflation

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Premise, a global on-demand insights company that democratizes the way data is sourced and analyzed, surveyed 903 American adult contributors about President Biden's recently announced student loan forgiveness plan. Premise announced the results of that survey today, finding overwhelming support for the president's plan.

On Wednesday, August 24^th, President Biden announced his plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for other individual federal loan recipients, both with a $125,000 income cap. The plan also further extended the COVID-19 pause on federal student loan repayments through the end of the year, with payments resuming in January 2023.

Those surveyed shared their thoughts on the plan itself, the fairness of it, whether it went far enough, and more. Here are some of the most significant findings:

73% of respondents strongly or somewhat approved of President Biden's plan, and 27% somewhat or strongly disapproved of it.
Only 27% felt that the plan went too far, and 25% felt it didn't go far enough. Nearly half of respondents (48%) felt the plan went far enough.

Black respondents were more likely to feel that the plan didn't go far enough (32%).

Only 27% of respondents were not concerned at all with the plan's impact on inflation, whereas 40% were somewhat concerned, and 33% very concerned.
Despite overall approval of the plan, respondents had mixed feelings about the fairness of it.

A slight majority (53%) felt the program unfairly punishes Americans who do not currently have student loan debt.
49% of respondents agreed with the Republican National Committee's characterization of the program as a "bailout for the wealthy," aligning with the 51% who disagreed with the characterization.

Concerning the extension of the payment pause through the end of the year, only 22% felt it should have gone longer. 21% felt it went too far and the majority (57%) felt it went just far enough.
The announced program seemed to have no impact on President Biden's job approval, however. 28% said the program improved their opinion of his job approval, 28% said it diminished their opinion, and 44% said it did not change (or impact) their opinion.

"These poll results show why it's so important to look beyond just the headline," said Maury Blackman, CEO of Premise. "While the headline here shows that our poll respondents approve of President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan at a three to one ratio, it also shows that a majority of the same respondents feel the program unfairly punishes Americans who do not currently have student loan debt, indicating that some people feel the program is unfair but approve of it anyway or that messaging and the way you frame a question can really make a difference."

For more, see link here: https://www.premise.com/blog/premise-poll-loan-forgiveness

Methodology

These results are based on responses from 903 Americans collected between August 24th and August 25th via the Premise smartphone application. Premise randomly sampled its opt-in panel members, stratified on Age, Gender, Region, and Education, based on the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS). The results are weighted by Age, Gender, Region, and Education benchmarked against the 2019 ACS estimates. Respondents were compensated for their completion of the survey through the Premise app.

About Premise

Premise is an on-demand insights company. Its technology mobilizes communities of global smartphone users to source actionable data in real-time, cost-effectively, and with needed visibility. In more than 135 countries and 37 languages, Premise finds Data for Every Decision™. To learn more, please visit www.premise.com.

Contact: Taylor C. Pearson
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202-235-3482

SOURCE Premise