Pollster Nate Silver admits Biden’s student loan handout is ‘transactional’ policy to buy Democratic votes

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On Wednesday, FiveThirtyEight founder and prominent pollster Nate Silver claimed President Joe Biden’s student loan handout was a "transactional" policy primarily favoring young, educated Democrats.

He added the point that Trump enacted the same "transactional" style of policy with his tax cuts, though conservatives on Twitter disagreed. 

Silver’s initial point appeared to mirror a prominent critique of Biden’s plan – that it was policy specifically designed to buy more Democratic votes, at the economic expense of the rest of the country. 

On Wednesday, the polling data site founder tweeted that that student loan "relief" plan focuses on helping people in the "Democratic coalition."

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FiveThirtyEight pollster Nate Silver claims Biden's student loan handout was "transactional" policy aimed at Democratic voters. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Million)

He wrote, "The thing about student loan debt relief is that, while other policies would be more economically progressive, it fairly efficiently redistributes well-being toward people in the Democratic coalition."

He described the coalition as, "Youngish, middle-class-ish college/grad school attendees" and recognized that is "a *very* D group."

In a subsequent tweet, Silver stated that targeting this group makes Biden’s plan a "very ‘transactional’ piece of public policy, directly serving the interests of the people who elected you."

Though Silver didn’t condemn or disparage the politics of such a transactional policy. He claimed it’s "extremely common, though, in the same way that, say, the Trump tax cuts were," preempting criticism of the handout plan that may have come from Trump supporters.

Silver tweeted that Biden's handout "redistributes well-being" to Democrats specifically. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Still conservatives, including GOP deputy communications director Nathan Brand, pushed back on Silver’s last point. Brand tweeted, "More than 80% of Americans benefited from the Trump tax cuts. Only 13% of Americans have student loan debt. Plus, Trump worked with congress… Biden just came back from vacation."

The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi pushed back on the Trump tax cut claim as well, tweeting, "It's not the same, whatsoever. If Trump had unilaterally (and unconstitutionally) signed an EO ‘forgiving’ corporate loans for only select industries, & then transferred responsibility of payment to taxpayers, then yes. But tax cuts were legislation that members could vote on."

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Others on Twitter, like conservative radio host Tara Servatius appeared amazed at the fact that Silver was admitting that Biden was buying votes with the handout. She tweeted, "DEMOCRAT POLLSTER ADMITS THEY'RE SHAKING DOWN THE WORKING CLASS TO PAY FOR HANDOUTS FOR THEIR ECONOMICALLY ELITE VOTERS. They just did this with tax subsidies for $56,000+ electric vehicles, too. They are enslaving us."

The Cato Institute’s Michael F. Cannon summed up Silver’s assessment of Biden’s handout, tweeting, "Politics: the art of taking from your people to give to our people."

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WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 24: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on student loan debt in the Roosevelt Room of the White House August 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. President Biden announced steps to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers who make less than $125,000 per year and cap payments at 5 percent of monthly income. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)