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As the two political parties begin to gear up for next years presidential election, the public has a more positive general image of the Democrats but trust Republicans more on specifics, a newly released survey shows.

The survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center suggests an important underlying dynamic for the presidential contest:

A Republican nominee may be able to count on a presumption that he or she will be able to handle major issues, but will be challenged on empathy and tolerance, as Mitt Romney was in 2012.

The Democratic nominee may be able to take those attributes for granted, at least to some extent, but will need to reassure the public about his or her abilities on managing issues.

Large segments of the public believe each party has strong principles. Asked if either has "good policy ideas," just over half say the Democrats do and just under half say Republicans do.

But the overall images of the parties differ markedly.

About six in 10 American adults say the Democratic party cares about the middle class and is tolerant and open to all groups of people, the poll found.

By contrast, only about one-third of Americans say Republicans are tolerant and open to all, and just over four in 10 say they care about the middle class.

Half say the Republicans are too extreme, considerably more than the share -- just over one-third -- who say that about the Democrats.

But asked which party could do a better job on seven major issues, the public gives Republicans the edge on three and the Democrats on only one, the survey showed.

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Americans have more positive view of Democrats, trust GOP on issues