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Almost one in five US families were unable to buy food they needed in 2009
The Food Research and Action Center in collaboration with Gallup have been tracking what they term "food hardship" over the last two years. The poll question asked 535,715 adults, "Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?"
The question was asked in all 50 states and in the largest Metropolitan Statistical areas as well as Congressional Districts. In 20 states, more than one in five answered "yes" to the question.
Families with children under 18 fared worse than single adults and the highest number of people responding with "yes" were in southern states.
26.2% of people in Mississippi responded yes. Mississippi was ranked first of the states in terms of food hardship.