Pew released a very interesting poll Wednesday that provides a revealing look at American values and a particular demographic group that is out of step with the rest. The topic could hardly be more relevant to the economic crisis that has caused so much suffering: attitudes toward walking away from mortgages - in other words shirking the obligation to pay back the lender for funds received.

A majority of Americans say it is "unacceptable" for homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments and abandon their homes, according to a Pew Research Center survey. But more than a third (36%) say the practice of "walking away" from a home mortgage is acceptable, at least under certain circumstances.

Nearly six-in-ten (59%) believe it is wrong for homeowners to deliberately stop paying their mortgages and surrender their homes to the mortgage lender, according to the survey of 2,967 adults conducted May 11-31.

But two-in-ten (19%) say it's acceptable and an additional 17% volunteer that it depends on the circumstances.

While some demographic groups are more likely than others to say it's okay to walk away -- among them, Hispanics, adults younger than age 65 and those living in the West -- these differences are mostly modest.

For example, nearly a quarter (24%) of all Hispanics say it's acceptable to abandon a mortgage, compared with 17% of whites and 21% of blacks. However, roughly similar majorities of Hispanics (58%), blacks (56%) and whites (61%) say it's wrong to do so.

There are sharp differences by partisanship. Democrats are about twice as likely as Republicans to say it is acceptable to walk away (23% vs. 11%)