Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-nr592 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-26T13:10:36.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Albatross: Student Loan Debt and Support for Joe Biden in the 2024 Election

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2025

William Harrison
Affiliation:
https://ror.org/03qnxaf80 Fordham University , USA
Jacob Smith
Affiliation:
https://ror.org/03qnxaf80 Fordham University , USA

Abstract

Student debt heavily shapes the life decisions and outlook of those living with it. This article examines the relationship between undergraduates’ views of President Joe Biden’s actions on student debt and their support for him in the 2024 election prior to his dropping out of the race. Using a representative survey from a large private university in the Northeast, we assess how student views of Biden’s handling of student loan relief correlated with voting intentions among registered student voters. Our analysis reveals that students who believed the Biden administration adequately addressed student debt were significantly more likely to support him compared to those who believed he had done too little. Additionally, our findings suggest that whereas increased student debt relief could have bolstered Biden’s support among liberal and very liberal students, its impact on moderate and conservative students was more limited. This study highlights the electoral implications of student debt relief policies, particularly in shaping young voters’ preferences, and it underscores the potential for targeted economic benefits to influence voter behavior in a highly polarized political environment.

Information

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Bricker, Jesse, and Thompson, Jeffrey. 2016. “Does Education Loan Debt Influence Household Financial Distress? An Assessment Using the 2007–2009 Survey of Consumer Finances Panel.” Contemporary Economic Policy 34 (4): 660–77.10.1111/coep.12164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bright, Dara, and Barany, Amanda. 2023. “An Examination of Student Loan Borrowers’ Attitudes Toward Debt Before and During COVID-19.” In Advances in Quantitative Ethnography, ed. Damşa, Crina and Barany, Amanda, International Conference on Quantitative Ethnography, 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol. 1785. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31726-2_13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bump, Philip. 2024. “Analysis: Americans Are Split: Biden Is Doing Too Much for Israel…or Too Little.” Washington Post, May 21. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/21/biden-israel-gaza-polling.Google Scholar
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. 2024. Tufts Tisch College. https://circle.tufts.edu/2024-election#youth-vote-+4-for-harris,-major-differences-by-race-and-gender.Google Scholar
Chapman, Stephanie. 2016. “Student Loans and the Labor Market: Evidence from Merit Aid Programs.” Equitable Growth. www.equitablegrowth.org/working-papers/student-loans-and-the-labor-market-evidence-from-merit-aid-programs.Google Scholar
Cilluffo, Anthony. 2019. “5 Facts about Student Loans.” Pew Research Center, August 13. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/08/13/facts-about-student-loans.Google Scholar
Claremont McKenna College. N.D. “The Biden Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan.” www.cmc.edu/financial-aid/tools-and-resources/biden-administrations-student-loan-debt-relief-plan.Google Scholar
Cooper, Daniel, and Wang, J. Christina. 2014. “Student Loan Debt and Economic Outcomes.” Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. www.bostonfed.org/publications/current-policy-perspectives/2014/student-loan-debt-and-economic-outcomes.aspx.Google Scholar
Gicheva, Dora, Thompson, Jeffrey, Hershbein, Ben, and Hollenbeck, Kevin M.. 2015. “The Effects of Student Loans on Long-Term Household Financial Stability.” In Student Loans and the Dynamics of Debt, ed. Hollenbeck, Kevin M. and Hershbein, Brad, 287316. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. Upjohn Institute. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh4zh26.11.Google Scholar
Graham, Jed. 2022. “Biden Approval Rating Gets Big Bounce from Young Americans.” Investor’s Business Daily, September 12. www.investors.com/politics/biden-approval-rating-gets-big-bounce-from-young-americans.Google Scholar
Hanson, Melanie. 2024a. “Average Student Loan Debt by Year [2024].” Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/average-student-loan-debt-by-year.Google Scholar
Hanson, Melanie. 2024b. “College Enrollment & Student Demographic Statistics.” Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/college-enrollment-statistics.Google Scholar
Harrison, William, and Jacob, F. H. Smith. 2025. “Replication Data for ‘The Albatross: Student Loan Debt and Support for Joe Biden in the 2024 Election.’” PS: Political Science & Politics. DOI:10.7910/DVN/II0JJ9.10.7910/DVN/II0JJ9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvard Kennedy School, Institute of Politics. 2024. “Harvard Youth Poll.” https://iop.harvard.edu/youth-poll/47th-edition-spring-2024.Google Scholar
Hiltonsmith, Robert. 2013. “At What Cost? How Student Debt Reduces Lifetime Wealth.” Demos, August 7. www.demos.org/research/what-cost-how-student-debt-reduces-lifetime-wealth.Google Scholar
Houle, Jason N., and Berger, Lawrence M.. 2015. “Is Student Loan Debt Discouraging Homeownership Among Young Adults?Social Service Review 89 (4): 589621.10.1086/684587CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Chris, Newall, Mallory, and Rollason, Charlie. 2024. “Two in Three Americans Feel Biden Should Step Aside: Ipsos.” Ipsos, July 12. www.ipsos.com/en-us/ABC-News-Washington-Post-Ipsos-July-2024-Survey.Google Scholar
Jacoby, Barbara. 2020. “What About the Other 85 Percent?” Inside Higher Ed, July 23. www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/07/23/colleges-should-be-planning-more-intentionally-students-who-commute-campuses-fall.Google Scholar
Knott, Katherine. 2023. “HEROES Act at Center of Debt-Relief Legal Fight.” Inside Higher Ed, January 9. www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2023/01/09/experts-disagree-whether-heroes-act-allows-debt-relief.Google Scholar
Lenski, John, Webster, Tom, and Brown, Randy. 2021. “What We Learned from the 2020 Election Exit Polls.” Edison Research, January 28. www.edisonresearch.com/what-we-learned-from-the-2020-election-exit-polls-2.Google Scholar
Lodhi, Humera, Cheng, Shelly, Kaufmann, Parker, Urenda, Pablo Barria, and Fox, EJ. 2024. “AP VoteCast: How America Voted in 2024.” Associated Press. https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/votecast.Google Scholar
Manion, Anita. 2023. “Our Selfish Side: Exploring Support for Student Debt Forgiveness Through the Lens of Self-Interest.” Higher Education Policy, September 1. DOI:10.1057/s41307-023-00326-z.10.1057/s41307-023-00326-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Elena. 2024. “Biden Won Big with Young Voters. This Year, They Swung Toward Trump in a Big Way.” NPR, November 7. www.npr.org/2024/11/07/g-s1-33331/unpacking-the-2024-youth-vote-heres-what-we-know-so-far.Google Scholar
Nissen, Sylvia. 2018. Student Debt and Political Participation. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2024. “In Tight Presidential Race, Voters Are Broadly Critical of Both Biden and Trump.” Pew Research Center, April 24. www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/24/joe-bidens-approval-ratings.Google Scholar
Robb, Cliff A., Moody, Beth, and Abdel-Ghany, Moham. 2012. “College Student Persistence to Degree: The Burden of Debt.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice 13 (4): 431–56. DOI:10.2190/CS.13.4.b.10.2190/CS.13.4.bCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roll, Stephen, Jabbari, Jason, and Grinstein-Weiss, Michal. 2021. “Student Debt Forgiveness Would Impact Nearly Every Aspect of People’s Lives.” Brookings, May 18.Google Scholar
Salam, Erum. 2025. “Trump’s Student Loan Changes Leave Borrowers Facing Soaring Repayments.” The Guardian, March 14. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/14/trump-student-loans-save.Google Scholar
Silver, Laura. 2024. “Younger Americans Stand out in Their Views of the Israel–Hamas War.” Pew Research Center, April 2. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/02/younger-americans-stand-out-in-their-views-of-the-israel-hamas-war.Google Scholar
SoRelle, Mallory E., and Laws, Serena. 2023. “The Political Benefits of Student Loan Debt Relief.” Research & Politics 10 (2). DOI:10.1177/20531680231174079.10.1177/20531680231174079CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SoRelle, Mallory E., and Laws, Serena. 2024. “Deservingness and the Politics of Student Debt Relief: Perspectives on Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 22 (2): 372–90. DOI:10.1017/S1537592723001457.10.1017/S1537592723001457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of Education. 2024. “Federal Student Loan Portfolio Summary.” Federal Student Aid. https://studentaid.gov/data-center/student/portfolio.Google Scholar
U.S. News and World Report . 2024. “Most Students Living in University Housing.” www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-on-campus.Google Scholar
Walsemann, Katrina M., Gee, Gilbert C., and Gentile, Danielle. 2015. “Sick of Our Loans: Student Borrowing and the Mental Health of Young Adults in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine 124:8593. DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027.10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.027CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, Sarah. 2024. “How Much Student Loan Debt Does the Average College Graduate Have?” US News and World Report, October 21. www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/see-how-student-loan-borrowing-has-changed.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Harrison and Smith supplementary material

Harrison and Smith supplementary material
Download Harrison and Smith supplementary material(File)
File 188.5 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Harrison and Smith Dataset

Link