Why Democrats Might Come to Regret Student Debt Relief

When a dog catches a car, things don’t always end well. In politics, some victories that are rapturous for the true believers can leave a lot of putative allies sighing, “That’s not what I had in mind.”

Such appears to have been the case, for instance, with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling. That verdict, initially expected to be pretty much a wash politically, now appears to be giving a big boost to Democrats. While the politics may matter little to committed pro-lifers thankful to be rid of Roe, it’s a big headache for many Republicans trying to legislate or campaign in the post-Roe era.  

Democrats just might be in a similar situation when it comes to President Biden’s massive, illegal, and regressive student loan jubilee.

The idea that Democrats could regret Biden’s loan scheme may come across as far-fetched. After all, the abortion debate is intimate in a way loan forgiveness is not. And a new Quinnipiac poll finds that Biden’s scheme is more popular than not, winning the general public and independents by identical 53-43 margins. But there may be more to the story.