Bribing some voters by forgiving student loans may backfire on Biden

It’s funny how politics works in this country. I mean, if a voter bribes a politician, the guy passing money under the table to get special treatment from the pol could wind up in prison for a long time. But if a politician makes a deal, not with one voter but with millions of them, by offering goodies in exchange for their votes, it’s not called “bribery” and it’s not even a crime. It’s called “politics as usual.”

While both parties are guilty of doing this, Democrats have a more accomplished record for this kind of thing. Give out “free” money to voters and they’ll thank you with their support, is how the thinking goes. But let’s not be too harsh on Democrats; enticing voters with “free” stuff is part of their playbook, their political DNA. 

Which brings us to the trial balloon Joe Biden has been floating recently. The one about how he wants to forgive some student loan debt, supposedly to ease the burden on those folks who took out loans to go to college and now — oh, the horror! — actually have to pay it back. Whether the president can do this or not with the stroke of his pen, via executive order, is not clear. But it looks like Biden may very well try.

One Biden plan we’ve been hearing about would forgive $10,000 in debt to former students earning $150,000 or less ($300,000 for a married couple). You might think that a couple pulling in $300,000 a year could figure out a way to pay back $10,000. But then they might have to give up a Caribbean vacation next winter — and that wouldn’t be right, now would it?  

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that neither the right nor the left is happy with the proposed plan. The left doesn’t think it goes far enough — progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) think all student loan debt should be forgiven, and conservatives think that if you take out a loan and promise to pay back what you owe, that’s exactly what you should do.

I wonder if it has occurred to President Biden that, while he may win some support for his “free” money bonanza, he also might alienate a lot of people who took out student loans and scrimped and saved to pay back what they owed. Not only did they pay off their loans and miss out on Biden’s gravy train, but now their tax dollars will help pay off somebody else’s loan.

You think these folks will rush to the polls on Election Day in November to say “Thank you” for making them feel like suckers?

A New York Times reader from San Jose, Calif., wrote a letter to the editor asking, “Why should I pay for your student loans? Are you going to pay my mortgage? … Why should I now have to pay for the people who knew perfectly well that they were going deep into avoidable debt? I know it’s politically valuable to tell millions of people you are going to forgive their debt, but it’s not right.”

Even the sages on the Times editorial board, who rarely encounter a progressive idea they don’t like, have problems with this one. “Proponents of debt cancellation argue that Democrats need to deliver on a campaign promise to a key constituency, and it may well be politically advantageous for them to do so before the midterm elections, when turnout of the Democratic base will be critical to the party’s success,” says a Times editorial. “But if the Biden administration puts forward a plan that voters do not regard as fair, the party could face a backlash at the polls.”

Bingo! If this scheme is actually implemented, Democrats may lose more support than they pick up. But desperate politicians come up with all sorts of desperate ideas. And Joe Biden is one desperate politician at the moment, given his sinking poll numbers and the prospect that his party will get a shellacking in the November midterms.  

So, Biden apparently must decide whether to roll the dice: Will his plan win support among college-educated swing voters who live in the suburbs and can be persuaded to vote for Democrats in November — and also win over younger voters, whose support for Biden has pretty much collapsed?  

Oh, did I mention that a big chunk of student loan debt has been incurred by wealthy Americans, people who went to graduate school to become doctors and lawyers? So, forgiving debt would help them more than it would help the less-well-off borrowers about whom Joe Biden supposedly cares so much..

Good luck in November, Mr. President. You and your party are going to need it.

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He was a correspondent with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” for 22 years and previously worked as a reporter for CBS News and as an analyst for Fox News. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him on Twitter @BernardGoldberg.