38% think most people don't deserve disability benefits

May 24, 2013, 4:04 PM GMT+0

38% of Americans think that most people receiving federal disability benefits don't deserve the money.

Currently 10.9 million Americans receive disability benefits from Social Security, with around $128 billion being paid out in disability payments every year. This has increased from 7.2 million in 2002.

The latest YouGov research shows that 48% of Americans think most people receiving disability benefits deserve them, while 38% think most people claiming them do not.

63% of Democrats think that most claimants deserve the benefits, while 24% think they do not. Only 34% of Republicans think most claimant deserve it while 56% think that most do not.

58% of Americans know someone claiming Social Security disability benefits. Interestingly, when asked whether the people they know deserve benefits, 71% of Democrats said that they do compared to 43% of Republicans.