Americans are generally optimistic about President Barack Obama's second term, but they also recognize that the country is deeply divided, according to a new national survey.

And a CNN/ORC International poll released Sunday also indicates that nearly a quarter of the public, including a majority of Republicans, hope that the president's policies fail.

Fifty-four percent of people surveyed say that Obama will be an outstanding or above average president in his second term, with 43% saying he'll be a poor or below average president.

"Those figures are roughly the same numbers that President George W. Bush received in CNN polling on the eve of his second inauguration in January 2005," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the survey, three-quarters feel that the country is more deeply divided on major issues than it has been in the past several years.

"Given the number of Republicans who are rooting for Obama's policies to fail over the next four years, that's a pretty realistic view, adds Holland.

While overall seven in 10 hope that the president's policies succeed, only four in 10 Republicans feel that way, with 52% hoping that Obama will fail. Compare that to just four percent of Democrats and 28% of independents who want the president's policies to fail.

Overall, 54% of Americans say the president's policies will succeed, but only 27% of Republicans think they will succeed, with 65% forecasting that they'll fail. Only one in seven Democrats predict such failure for the president.

As for Congress, only 21% of those questioned say they approve of the job federal lawmakers are doing, with nearly eight in ten saying they disapprove. Four in ten approve of the job House Speaker John Boehner is doing, with 51% disapproving of the performance of the top Republican in the House.

The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International on Jan. 14-15, with 814 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.