Americans view Democrats as more willing to work across party lines and Republicans as more extreme in their beliefs, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.

Asked to chose which party was more extreme in its positions, 54 percent of Americans picked the GOP, while 35 percent selected the Democrats. On the question of who was more willing to work with the other party, 52 percent pegged the Democrats, and 27 percent deemed Republicans more bipartisan.

On the ultimate question, though, of who could better manage the federal government, Americans were evenly divided: 41 percent said the Democrats, and 40 percent said the Republicans.

The poll respondents self-identified their party affiliation as: 21 percent Republican, 31 percent Democratic and 41 percent independent.

The poll, conducted from Jan. 15 to 19, surveyed 1,504 U.S. adults. It has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.