Student debt cancellation generates most online interest among 2020 Democrats’ policies: report

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) plans for eliminating student debt have reportedly sparked the most attention online among policies proposed by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

Axios reports that an analysis of the 50 top stories for each of the top eight 2020 Democrats since March 1 shows Warren and Sanders each received the most interactions — which include reactions, comments, Facebook shares, and likes and retweets on Twitter — for articles written about student debt cancellation.

Warren’s plan to eliminate student debt and create tuition-free college generated 2 million interactions, while Sanders’s student debt cancellation proposal generated 1.7 million interactions, the analysis of NewsWhip data found.{mosads}

Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) gun control reform plan and his attacks on the National Rifle Association and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D) attacks on the religious right both generated 1.1 million interactions each, according to the analysis.

“Policies that resonate and catch like wildfire must be concrete and easy to grasp, without requiring much grounding in policy, which is often necessary for understanding health care and climate change plans,” Axios notes.

Unlike traditional polling, the social media analysis surveys enthusiasm and emotional responses that are more likely to accurately represent voters’ beliefs, according to news outlet.

Twenty of the 2020 Democratic White House hopefuls will take the stage this week in Detroit for the second round of primary debates.