The idea that forgiving student debt would cause enormous political backlash among those who have no such debt, or have already paid it, reflects an utterly dismal view of humanity. It also strikes me as correct.

Social science suggests that most people do not have distinct or coherent views on political issues, the way the politically engaged do, but all humans are hyper, hyper sensitive to fairness & reciprocity. People will even act against their own self-interest on those grounds.

It is easy to whip up the resentments of non-political normies with appeals to fairness & reciprocity. You pay taxes & they get welfare? They get affirmative action but you don't? You worked your way through school and now these kids get it free? It's not fair.

Even if you could convince everyone that this would bring far more benefits than costs, that it would be to the collective good, that it would be to *their benefit specifically*, lots of people would oppose it anyway. The primal concern over fairness overrides consequentialism.

To be clear, I think Biden should do it anyway. Biden should go pedal-to-the-floor on all fronts simultaneously, doing as many good things as are within his power as fast as he can possibly do them, because shit is crazy these days, nobody knows the future & good things are good.