Nearly half of Americans now think it's too easy to get food stamps, but a majority agrees that tough economic times are driving the demand for them.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% of American Adults believe it is too easy to get food stamps in this country. That number has been trending up from 40% in surveys since December 2010. Eighteen percent (18%) think it is too hard to get food stamps, in line with previous surveys. One-in-four (24%) think the level of eligibility is about right, but another 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 16-17, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.