More Americans favor forgiving medical debt than forgiving student debt, poll finds

A majority of Americans support the federal government forgiving medical debt — while other types of loan forgiveness are less popular, new polling reveals.

Just over half of U.S. adults, 51%, believe it is very or extremely important that the government forgive medical debt, according to a June 11 University of Chicago Harris/Associated Press-NORC Poll. This figure includes 65% of Democrats, 57% of independents and 31% of Republicans.

The poll, conducted from May 16 to May 21, sampled 1,309 American adults and has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

When asked about three other types of debt, respondents were less in favor of the federal government stepping in.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said it is very or extremely important that the government forgive student loan debt. This figure includes 58% of Democrats, 44% of independents and 15% of Republicans — half as many as supported medical debt forgiveness.

Twenty-two percent of respondents — including less than one-third of Democrats, independents and Republicans — said it was very or extremely important for the government to forgive small business loan debt.

Respondents were least in favor of forgiveness for credit card debt, with only 17% saying it was very or extremely important. This figure included 21% of Democrats, 20% of independents and 12% of Republicans.

Attitudes toward student loan debt forgiveness varied based on a number of factors.

For example, a majority of respondents, 54%, supported student loan debt forgiveness if the borrower was misled by their school or defrauded. Forty-nine percent supported forgiveness if the borrower made timely payments for two decades, and 44% supported it if the borrower’s interest was larger than the initial loan amount.

Respondents with student loan debt were also more likely to favor forgiveness, the survey found.

Fifty-four percent of those currently paying back student loans supported forgiveness, while only 31% of those who paid off their loans said the same. Additionally, 34% of respondents who had never had student loan debt supported federal government forgiveness.

The survey comes several months after President Joe Biden’s administration announced its latest program for student loan debt forgiveness.

The plan, an updated version of an existing policy, would allow more borrowers to suspend monthly payments until their income rises to a certain threshold, according to the Associated Press.

The poll also comes the day after the Biden Administration announced a proposal to ban medical bills from being used in credit reports.

This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 1:06 PM with the headline "More Americans favor forgiving medical debt than forgiving student debt, poll finds."