For Immediate Release: June 27, 2024
Press Contact: press@borrowersaction.org
As Presidential Candidates Take the Debate Stage, Advocates Highlight Strong Support Among Women Voters for Student Debt Relief
New Analysis Shows a Literal Supermajority of Women Voters Support Debt Relief; More than Half Say Debt Relief Will Help the Economy
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In advance of the first presidential debate of the 2024 election, Protect Borrowers Action (PBA) joined Supermajority for a virtual event underscoring the importance of student loan debt relief to women voters. This event comes as President Biden continues to emphasize debt relief on the campaign trail and just days after former President Trump threatened to reinstate canceled student loans should he win in November. PBA, Supermajority, and polling firm SocialSphere also released a new polling memo finding broad support for student debt relief among women voters.
“Any candidate hoping to win the presidency must take student debt relief seriously,” said Jara Butler, Chief Impact Officer of Supermajority. “For too long, our leaders have left the economic policies that matter most to women—including student debt relief—on the back burner. But women, especially young women, will not allow their economic futures to be ignored. We know student loan debt is a critical gender and racial justice issue, with Black women holding the highest amount of debt out of any group, and we will not stop holding our leaders accountable to creating a world where all women are able to live free from the burden of student debt.”
A recording of this event, featuring experts from Supermajority, PBA, and the Debt Collective, is available here
A polling memo on these findings among women voters is available here
This Superwomen Wednesday featured data from PBA’s March poll conducted by pollster John Della Volpe of SocialSphere, which offered a comprehensive look at voter attitudes on student debt relief and the 2024 election. The poll found that the vast majority (74%) of women support government action on student debt. A majority of women voters—especially women with student debt (79%), non-white women (69%), and Gen Z and millennial women (68%)—believe debt relief will help the economy.
“This data underscores the lived experiences of the women with student debt across the country,” said Aissa Canchola Bañez, Political Director of Protect Borrowers Action. “Women—who disproportionately are crushed under the weight of the student loan debt crisis—know that student debt relief is a kitchen table issue that affects every aspect of their lives. This election is between a candidate fighting to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans and one promising to force millions back in debt—for student loan borrowers, the stakes in November could not be higher.”
A majority of women say canceling student loan debt is an important issue in November’s election, particularly among women with student debt (81%), Black women (74%), and Gen Z and millennial women (67%). And even among women who say they are not sure they will vote, nearly three-in-five consider student debt cancellation an important issue in the election—a clear sign that student debt relief is a potential motivator for low-propensity voters in an election that is projected to be close and determined by turnout.
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About Protect Borrowers Action
Protect Borrowers Action educates, activates, and mobilizes Americans with student debt to hold right-wing officials accountable for their efforts to deny borrowers life-changing relief and keep them drowning in student debt. PBA is a fiscally sponsored project of Fund for a Better Future, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Learn more at borrowersaction.org.
About Supermajority
Supermajority is a women’s equality organization made up of women of all backgrounds, races, and ages who are coming together to build a voting bloc committed to creating a future where we are all truly equal. Supermajority is dedicated to building women’s collective political power by providing the information, training, and resources needed to take meaningful action at the local, state, and national levels. Learn more at https://supermajority.com.
