Nearly one-quarter of Americans believe that states have the right to secede, according to a recent poll from Rasmussen Reports -- up 10 percentage points in two years

The latest poll is just one of many that shows that Americans have serious and growing concern about the federal government, according to Scott Rasmussen, founder and president of Rasmussen Reports. According to the phone survey released Sunday, 24% of Americans believe that states should be able to withdraw from the United States to form their own country, if they want, while 59% of Americans say that they don’t believe states have the right to secede and 16% are undecided. “We do see that people are concerned about the federal government in a variety of ways,” Rasmussen said. Though a minority, the number has been growing. In 2010, when Rasmussen first conducted the poll, only 14% of Americans said that states had the right to secede. A year later, the number was up to 21%. The survey also asked whether the federal government is a protector or a threat to individual rights, to which a majority - 51% - said that the government presents a danger to liberty. Only 34% of adults in this country regard the federal government more as a protector of individual rights, according to the poll. The survey also found that 64% of Americans are at least somewhat worried that the U.S. government will run out of money, 43% are very worried that the U.S. government will run out of money, while 31% of adults are not worried and 10% are not at all worried. The total federal debt currently stands at $15.8 trillion. Rasmussen said that recent polling shows that Americans have a growing frustration with the federal government. “What we’re seeing in a whole range of surveys is serious and growing concern about the federal government, about the role of government in American life,” he said. “Only about one out of five Americans believe the government today has the consent of the governed. People believe that America’s best days - about half the nation believes - America’s best days have come and gone. Only 16% believe that today’s children will be better off than their parents, that’s a horrifically low number for America.”