According to the survey by Opinion Research Business, two-thirds of parents with children under the age of 18 and six in ten of the population overall support the option of sending their children to a state-run school with a particular religious, moral or philosophical ethos.
In the survey of more than 1,000 people across Britain, however, 45 per cent agreed that "children from better off backgrounds are more likely to get in".
The Rev Jan Ainsworth, the Church of England's Chief Education Officer, "This finding indicates the challenge still facing the Church in communicating our national and diocesan guidance on admissions policies, which stress the importance of setting out simple, transparent criteria for allocating places in oversubscribed schools."
The findings of the survey follows research published by the Sutton Trust last week suggesting that faith schools accept fewer students from poorer backgrounds than other secondary schools.
Rev Ainsworth commented, "The Church of England has consistently supported the ban on interviews or the seeking of other information about the family during the admissions process.
"Church attendance is the only measure our schools use when allocating places on the basis of faith, and churches are open to anyone, irrespective of background or income.
