New polling from Daily Kos/Civiqs adds another data point to the growing body of evidence that young voters are particularly displeased with Joe Biden's presidency.
The survey found that 67% of Democratic voters aged 18-34 believe Biden "made a lot of promises during his campaign that he hasn’t delivered on.”
The news comes the same week that a new Harvard Youth Poll found President Biden’s job approval rating among 18 to 29 year olds had slipped 18 points over the past year to 41% (down from 59%).
While multiple factors have surely contributed to Biden's fall among young voters, one of them is likely his lack of action of student debt relief, which many young people viewed as a key campaign promise. In the Harvard poll, 85% of young Americans said they favored some form of student debt relief.
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In February, Navigator Research dug further into the issue of student debt through polling and focus groups and found that Black Americans wanted Biden to take aggressive action on cancelling student debt.
Among Black Americans under 35, Biden's job approval rating had plummeted 25 points over the past year, from 88% to 63%. Navigator also found that if Biden hypothetically took some form of action on student debt cancellation, perceptions of whether he had kept his campaign promises would improve 8 points overall, including 11 points among voters with student loan debt, 10 points among white voters, and 7 points among Democrats.
Since taking office, President Biden has repeatedly extended the moratorium on student loan payments during the pandemic, a pause that is set to expire Aug. 31. But Biden’s comments during a private meeting on Monday at the White House suggest he may be preparing to take action on canceling a portion of student loan debt.
The president told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he hoped to move on the issue sooner rather than later, according to The Washington Post.
The president suggested he is looking to take the executive action in short order, telling the Hispanic lawmakers that they would be very happy with what he does next, according to aides briefed on the meeting.
Rep. Tony Cárdenas of California told the Post that he had urged Biden to cancel at least $10,000 in debt through executive action, and Biden's response had been "incredibly positive."
“I feel very confident that he is pushing on his team to do something, and to do something significant,” Cárdenas said in an interview. “That’s my feeling.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said student debt cancellation was "still on the table," and this week she indicated a decision on the matter will come before the conclusion of the moratorium.
So the possibility still exists that the White House will take action on student debt cancellation within the coming months. The fact that President Biden discussed it in positive terms with a group of House Democrats—who then went on the record—is a notable departure from his posture on the issue since he took office.