Pay Your Debt? How Perceived Race and Deservingness Affect Moral Dilemmas of Student Loan Forgiveness

In August 2022, the Biden Administration announced plans to forgive billions in student loan debt. Proponents of the plans see it as responsible public policy, while critics see it as placing an unfair burden on taxpayers. Political scientist Alessandro Del Ponte and colleagues will examine the factors that are associated with attitudes toward loan forgiveness using a nationally representative survey experiment of 8,000 respondents. They will manipulate the borrower’s perceived race and deservingness to address these questions: To what extent do moral judgments about debt forgiveness depend on the perceived race and deservingness of beneficiaries, and how are these in turn are associated with related policy attitudes and voter behavior?