Most voters continue to believe states should be able to ignore federal programs they don’t like, especially if the federal government doesn’t help pay for them.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 54% of Likely U.S. Voters believe states should have the right to opt out of federal programs they don’t agree with. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree and say states shouldn’t have the right to opt out while 15% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Support for states’ rights jumps higher when the question involves federally mandated programs with no checks attached. Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters think states should have the right to opt out of such programs if the federal government doesn’t help pay for them. Twenty-one percent (21%) disagree and 16% are undecided.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 23-24, 2011 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.