“They are going to remember”: Biden’s student loan move could tilt NC races

The nation’s oldest president may have an unlikely political weapon – the youth vote.

President Joe Biden’s executive action forgiving as much as $10,000 in federal student loan debt – and up to $20,000 for low-income Pell grant recipients – will bring relief to millions of borrowers saddled by debts they struggle to pay, or have allowed to go into default, causing damage to their ability to obtain credit.

After a slow start that saw his approval drop among Americans 18 to 29, Biden has in recent months signed legislation and taken an executive action that together address what surveys show are top priorities of young voters: reducing gun violence, slowing climate change and easing student loan debt.

According to a Carolina Demography analysis, voters 18 to 34 years old are 29 percent of North Carolina’s registered voters, and 37 percent of the largest voting group, unaffiliated voters.

Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of NextGen America, a progressive group that advocates for young voters, told me that Biden’s move to reduce student loan debt fulfills a campaign promise. She said that makes it clear to skeptical young people that going to polls can change things.

“Ultimately people go and vote to make a difference in their lives and this will be a big, tangible way for young people to see that their votes mattered,” she said.

In November, she said, young voters will show their appreciation.

“They are going to remember come Election Day who addressed the student debt crisis and made a difference in their lives,” she said. “Absolutely, they will remember.”

A rise in young voter turnout would improve prospects for Democrats in November’s midterm elections. A Pew Research Center analysis of the 2020 presidential vote found voters under 30 favored Biden by 24 percentage points (Biden 59%, Trump 35%).

John Della Volpe, the director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics Youth Poll since its inception in 2000, noted that Biden won among young voters by an average of 20 points in five key swing states. He said, “If not for young people in those five states, Donald Trump wins.”

Young voter turnout surged in recent elections, including the midterms. In 2018, turnout among voters 18- to 29-year-olds was nearly 35 percent, almost double the norm of the previous 40 years, Della Volpe said. The young voter turnout in 2020 was also a historic high.

In close North Carolina races, such as the U.S. Senate contest between Republican Ted Budd and Democrat Cheri Beasley, or the 13th District House race between Democrat Wiley Nickel and Republican Bo Hines – a motivated youth vote could be decisive in Democrats favor. It could also block the Republican Party’s effort to regain supermajorities in the state legislature.

While forgiving student debt will appeal to young borrowers – and many older ones – it may also motivate voters who oppose it, including younger ones.

Pauline Ashcraft, leader of the Wake County Young Republicans and active in the national Young Republicans organization, said Biden’s order on student loan debt is a “bailout” that’s “unfair to people who didn’t go to college, or couldn’t go to college.”

Ashcraft said she graduated from N.C. State University in 2016 without debt because she chose to attend a lower-cost public university, obtained scholarships and worked while in school.

“Since I’m free of student debt, I’m going to be paying for those who, in many cases, have made poor financial decisions,” she said.

Ashcraft’s complaint is shared by many Republicans, but their dissent is unlikely to counter a wave of young voters alarmed by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and grateful for Biden’s coming through on his promises to address their key concerns.

Della Volpe said, “People have their head in the sand if they don’t believe that younger people, specifically younger women, aren’t incredibly animated about the issues at stake.”