A recently published survey shows that white Americans are more likely to approve of police force against citizens than African Americans and Latinos.

The General Social Survey, which was conducted from March 31, 2014, to Oct. 11, 2014, NORC at the University of Chicago, shows that 70 percent of whites support police officers striking an adult male citizen. However, only 42 percent of blacks and 38 percent of Hispanics said they could imagine situations in which a policeman would be justified to hit an adult male.

The survey also shows that only 42 percent of blacks and 50 percent of Hispanics would "approve of a policeman striking a citizen who was attempting to escape from custody," while 69 percent of white respondents said yes.

Ninety percent of whites also said that they would support a police hitting a citizen who was fighting back using their fists. In comparison, 74 percent of blacks and Hispanics said they would approve.

The survey results, however, were more balanced on the question of whether respondents "approve of a policeman striking a citizen who had said vulgar and obscene things to the policeman." In response, only 9 percent of whites, 7 percent of blacks and 10 percent of Hispanics said they would approve.

When asked if they would "approve of a policeman striking a citizen who was being questioned as a suspect in a murder case," 12 percent of whites said yes, compared to 24 percent of blacks and 18 percent of Hispanics.

The survey was published at a time when the topics of police brutality and mistrust have dominated national discourse in light of the high profile police killings of black and brown men, including Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Antonio Zambrano-Montes.

However, experts say they are not surprised by the disparity in American attitudes toward police between white Americans and people of color.

"Whites are significantly more likely to give police officers the benefit of the doubt, either because they have never had an altercation with a police officer or because they tend to see the police as allies in the fight against crime," said sociology professor Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University, according to The Associated Press.

However, blacks and Hispanics "are more cautious on this issue because of their personal experiences and/or the historical treatment their groups have experienced at the hands of the police, which is only recapitulated in recent disputed killings," he added.

Likewise, Prof. Charles R. Epp of the University of Kansas said the majority of whites believe they are going to receive "reasonable and fair" treatment from officers.

"My strong sense is that African Americans and Hispanics have too often experienced or have heard of experiences of police officers acting unfairly, so they're less willing to support the use of force by police officers. They're not sure it will be used fairly," he said.