Opinion Research Corporation for CNN. 12/17-19. 1000 American adults. MoE 3.0%.

In general, do you hope that Barack Obama's policies will succeed or do you hope that his policies will fail? Among all American adults: (MoE: 3.0%)

Succeed: 61%

Fail: 27% Among Democrats: (MoE: 6.5%)

Succeed: 89%

Fail: 5% Among independents (MoE: 4.5%)

Succeed: 59%

Fail: 27% Among Republicans: (MoE: 6.0%)

Succeed: 27%

Fail: 61%

Given that the overwhelming majority of Americans hope President Obama's policies succeed, your first reaction to those numbers might be to shrug. But the fact that more than a quarter of Americans are rooting for his policies to fail is actually a fairly substantial chunk of the country and you won't be surprised to find out who is rooting for failure: the GOP.

According to the poll, 61% of Republicans are rooting for Obama's policies to fail. Not even conservatives (51%) or tea partiers (57%) are rooting as strongly for his failure. In contrast, 89% of Democrats and 59% of independents hope President Obama's policies succeed.

Whether or not you believe President Obama is pursuing the right policies, the goals of those policies -- things like improving the economy, keeping America secure, combatting discrimination, and reducing inequality -- shouldn't be that controversial. Still, Republicans overwhelmingly want Obama to fail. Why?