a new survey implies that were the democrats to do what they've said,
they would do what they promised to do, which is to cancel student loan debt.
It would be a huge boost for them going into the midterm elections.
I know what you're thinking.
Why do we need poll data demonstrate this?
I don't know.
We're just trying to get through to the Biden administration.
So hang with us for a bit.
This poll surveyed over 2000 likely voters in battleground
states like Arizona Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
All of these of course are states that flipped from Donald Trump to
president Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Which demonstrates that they can trend blue, but also the republicans in theory
can win their, some of these elections were super close.
So why take risks when you have a potential winning issue?
And in fact they do respondents were polled and
how likely they would be to vote in the November general election
should Biden implement a range of policy measures related to student debt.
And it found that 45% of them would be somewhat or
much more likely to vote if Biden cancels $10,000 in student debt for
every federal borrower which he pledged to do on the campaign trail.
Now that is not the amount that activists are asking for.
Well it's that in a sec but
the 10,000 is at least what he promised repeatedly he would do.
And in fact, I think we have a little bit of video of that.
Let's go to him making that specific promise.
>> The student loan forgiveness figure in your plan.
Would you take executive action to achieve it?
>> It does figure in my plan.
I've laid out in detail.
For example, the legislation passed by the Democratic House calls for immediate
$10,000 forgiveness of student loans just holding people up there in real trouble.
They're having to make choices be champagne or student loan and
paying the rent.
Those kinds of decisions.
It should be done immediately.
>> Now, I know what you're thinking.
He has been president for at least a week or two now.
Maybe we should just give him more time.
It's been over a year, but he made the promise repeatedly.
Where is the action?
But anyway, that would be 10,000.
46% of respondents said, they'd be likely to go to the polls if he were to cancel
50,000, which is what people are asking for.
I mean, many think it should just all be eliminated.
But regardless, it is clearly a winning issue.
Now, there is a reverse of this.
You can get people to go if you cancel it.
But what if people are suddenly hit once again during the ongoing pandemic
that we're still very much in, well,
as of May 1st student loan repayment is going to resume.
So it's been paused for two years and just a couple of months before the election,
people gonna have to start taking that hit again.
And think about how they're gonna think, how they're gonna remember the promises
that Joe Biden made and thus far hasn't delivered on.
>> But that will require doing something popular John,
I don't know if you factored that in there, like democrats aren't good
at doing what's popular, it's right in front of their face.
This is the most no brainer.
It's been the most no brainer for Joe Biden and the entire administration.
And of course it is even more of a no brainer when you consider that
the build back better act, which was the name of his campaign.
We're going to build back better that that signature legislation has not passed and
most likely will not pass at least, definitely not before the midterms.
Especially with Joe Manchin,
the coal soaked Joe Manchin who is blocking any kind.
I mean, I've called this the sort of the mansion cinema like Chinese finger trap
situation there like one on one side, the other on the other side.
I can say that I'm Chinese and I just got so
I've I've my family made its fortune in finger traps.
But here's what I think they're gonna do.
They're gonna be like, I know well we'll alleviate $3000 for
Latin X families who have at least three Children and
our small business owners and Nissans.
It'll be the most means tested specific relief and we'll have to be like,
yay, was that a thing, yep, that may apply to some people in
the audience and you got something to look forward to.
>> Yeah, something I can definitely tell you applies to people in the audience.
If not at least one of these people up here hosting is that the fact
is that black people have far more student loans.
And white people when you have more generational wealth,
then it becomes less available when it comes to education and
being able to pay it off and paid off quickly.
As far as I'm concerned, black college graduates,
they have on average about 25 grand more in student loans.
And then four years also after graduation,
the average black college graduate has now 12.5% more than they actually borrowed.
Because as we know, a lot of these college graduate loans, they can be exorbitant
when it comes to rates, when they come from the private sector and whatnot.
The fact is that it holds an entire demographic back,
that's already held back by various forms of inequities throughout our society.
And also, it's like we've been kind of fed this false lie or
this entire lie that says, all you have to do is get education in college,
you're gonna have a great job and you're gonna be able to take care of yourself.
But when you're black, that shows that that's not the case as you're held back
in terms of hiring pay everything in the gamut.
And so it's just all it does is further not only the class divide but
the racial wealth gap that continues to grow every day.
And the problem is I can see why people on both sides the I would wanna keep those
measures in place to keep the hierarchies in our society really
operating just as they were meant to operate.
>> Exactly, I'm so glad that you made that point too because you also are perfectly
demonstrating, what are the communities that really came out and
and made it happen for Biden in 2020?
And these are the communities that he has largely ignored that his numbers
are going down even worse.
I mean they're going down for everyone but worse here, and
he has such an eminently doable easy popular thing that he could do.
To reassure people in those communities that,
no it wasn't all lies I mean sure there's some of it that like
you know Joe Manchin and Kirsten cinema like what are you gonna do?
No you cannot hide behind the other so called moderates, you're the so
called moderate that we have an issue with here.
He could 100% do it and
some people are actually calling him out maybe this pressure will help.
AOC recently tweeted is actually delusional to believe
DEMS can get reelected without acting on filibuster or student debt,
Biden breaking is BBB promise, letting the CTC laps, 0 path to citizenship, etc.
Especially when they run from conversations about race and
culture which is about what 1/6 was about.
And she said specifically an interview earlier this week it is Biden's power and
ability to cancel student debt and nobody else's time for
the administration is running out and we do not have much more time to wait.
There is nothing for him to hide behind.
Everyone can see what he's doing and
everyone much more importantly can see what he's not doing.
And so it will fall to them,
every day we get closer to an election that was always going to be difficult.
That's the historic pattern.
The party of the president tends to do poorly in the midterms but
they decided to activate challenge mode where they allowed the child tax credit to
lapse earlier this year.
They allowed evictions and foreclosures to return.
People are gonna start getting their student loan payments resumed and
literally a couple of weeks before the election.
I believe it was David day and had a great breakdown on this.
The subsidies for the ACA are gonna lapse that should have been renewed and
build back better but were so people's insurance premiums are gonna be jacked up.
They're gonna get letters announcing possible a doubling
of their premiums in the weeks leading up to the election for
those who aren't thrown off of their insurance entirely.
So I've always kind of hated they're trying to lose sort of thing.
But to mimic you earlier, could you make it a little bit harder to make that case?
You sure seem like you wanna get destroyed in these midterms.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah, I just wanna say like, it's,
I get really cynical in this kind of moment, but
I really want to stress that democrats do not have a plan and they are not work.
They are not deliberately losing their just this bad at governing there,
just this in bed with the status quo and corporations and
it's on us to get involved.
We have, it feels like the window we have to stop, climate change.
The window we have to stop like another smarter.
I mean, that's very easy to do fascist from actually coming to power like
another Trump or Trump himself reanimated.
Like that window is closing and again, I've said this, but we're sleepwalking
into actual fascism in the United States if we can't get any of this stuff done.
AOC is absolutely right.
I know Naomi Klein who have had on my podcast is just like,
look if like there is a window, there's a window here and the pressure matters.
I know it's fun to be cynical.
I know it's fun to sort of just be on twitter,
I knew they weren't gonna do anything.
No, I would just say get involved if it's this drop the debt movement.
If it's Sunrise Coalition, if it's a labor union, whatever it is,
the next couple of years are truly, truly, truly going to matter.
And no, even if it's a one little, one sign, one demonstration,
I would encourage people to really get involved.