The survey by the University of Liverpool shows that 14% of the nationalist community have some "sympathy for the reasons" why groups like the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann continue their campaign of violence.
The poll was conducted among 1,000 voters drawn from each of Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies after the General Election in May.
It will be published in full at a conference at Queen's University Belfast on Thursday.
"There is a section of hardcore, mainly young males within republican areas, who do have some sympathy with the reasons for dissident violence, who don't necessarily accept the PSNI and offer some political support for the political associations of dissidents", Professor Jon Tonge told UTV.
"We were surprised by the reported sympathy with dissident violence. We were expected smaller figures".
Former IRA prisoner Gerard Hodgins says there is "a proliferation of 40-something men" who have recently joined dissident political groupings.
"As long as we have ghettos of poverty you're always going to have a breeding ground for any organisation which is directly challenging the state", he told UTV.
The survey findings were released 24 hours after a Real IRA car bombing injured two police officers and caused extensive damage to an Ulster bank building in Londonderry.
Chief Supt Stephen Martin - the most senior police commander in Derry - claimed that the dissidents had no support in the city.
"The overwhelming majority of people in this city condemn what happened, do not support it and do not want it", he told reporters on Tuesday.
But Professor Tonge says the repeated claim that dissidents have no support is a mere assumption.
"We suggest their support is indeed small, arguably very small, but not quite negligible," he told UTV.
However, Professor Tonge insists that "sympathy is not the same as unequivocal support."
Dissidents could not successfully challenge Sinn Féin politically, he said.
"These dissidents would have no chance if they stood against Sinn Féin in the Assembly elections next year".
Freelance journalist Eamonn MacDermott, who often writes about dissident republicans, says the survey is not alarming.
"If you put it into context, it's not that shocking", he told UTV.
"Sympathy would mean that they might agree with the overall aim of republicans, which is a united Ireland. Sympathy does not necessarily translate into support of the methods of dissidents".
Last month, Home Secretary Theresa May revealed the threat level to Great Britain from Irish-related terrorism was raised from moderate to substantial, meaning an attack is a "strong possibility".
According to the survey, 53% of people within the unionist community view the dissident threat as "major" compared to 17% within the nationalist community.
"I think this comes down to the fact that nationalists are more tuned in to the reality of the dissident threat", Mr MacDermott says. "They realise that the dissidents are a really small group that are not capable of mounting a serious threat".
Gerard Hodgins is confident dissidents will declare a ceasefire in "a few years".
"In between, people will die needlessly and other people will go to jail for a very long time," the former hunger striker said.