A majority of Americans believe that Republicans are "out of touch" with the mainstream of the country and "too extreme," according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday.

The poll found that 62 percent of all Americans — including 36 percent of Republicans — think the party is out of touch. That's 16 points higher than the percentage of people who thought the same about Democrats.

Respondents also blasted the GOP as "too extreme." A majority, or 52 percent, of those polled said that phrase describes the Republican Party, 13 points higher than the Democratic Party.

The GOP image is at its lowest point in nearly two decades:

Overall, Republicans polled were much less supportive of their party in general than were Democrats. Only 69 percent of Republicans viewed their party in a favorable light, compared with 87 percent of Democrats who said the same about their party.

Republicans also scored especially poorly with Independent voters — 65 percent of self-described Independents said the GOP is out of touch, and 51 percent said it's too extreme.

Here's a look at the party breakdown:

A majority of Independents also cast Democrats as "out of touch," but they rejected the notion that Democrats were too extreme.

The poll comes at a time when President Barack Obama and Democrats are battling with Republicans over yet another federal budget issue — the across-the-board cuts known as the sequester, which will start to kick in this week. A separate Pew poll released Tuesday found that Americans would blame Republicans over Obama by a 45-32 margin if the sequester goes into effect.