Elizabeth Warren Gains Support From College Students After Announcing Debt Cancellation Plan

May 9th, 2019

  • Elizabeth Warren is currently in 3rd place among Democratic college student voters
  • Elizabeth Warren’s support among college students has increased from 5 percent to 9 percent in the past two weeks
  • Warren’s support from students on financial aid has doubled from 5 percent to 11 percent

Since entering the race, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has had a tough time gaining traction with Democratic voters despite offering more detailed policy proposals than any other candidate. Her most recent plan to eliminate the estimated $1.5 trillion of college loan debt may have won her some new converts, at least on college campuses.

Beginning in late March, College Pulse has been conducting weekly survey over 1,500 full-time and part-time student voters attending four-year colleges or universities across the United States who are part of College Pulse’s American Undergraduate Panel. The week before the rollout of her college debt plan Warren’s candidacy was supported by only five percent of Democratic students. After the announcement, her support edged up to nine percent, passing Beto and Buttigieg in the rankings.

More interestingly, her support among students on financial aid doubled from five percent to 11 percent.

“Warren is a fighter. And she’s fighting for students like me,” said University of Washington student on financial aid. “Student debt is huge and understated source of stress for a lot of students, and Elizabeth Warren is the candidate that best understands that.”

Warren’s support among college students is still well below Bernie Sanders who is leading among undergraduates nationally with 23 percent supporting his candidacy, but she may have given students another reason to look at her campaign.

Her proposal has also earned her high marks among the general public. A recent survey found that a majority of voters approved of her college loan forgiveness plan.


For more up to date insights on the 2020 Election, visit the College Pulse Student Election Tracker.

About College Pulse: College Pulse is a leading online survey and analytics company dedicated to understanding the attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of today’s college students. College Pulse offers custom data-driven marketing and research solutions, utilizing its unique American College Student Panel and online analytics platform which provides insight to brands, companies, and organizations. College Pulse’s platform includes 240,000 undergraduate college student respondents from more than 800 four-year colleges and universities in all 50 states. To learn more about College Pulse, please contact [email protected].

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