As President George W. Bush formally embarks upon another four years in the White House, a majority of Americans feel he will have a successful second term.

According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 52 percent of those polled said Bush will be an outstanding or above average president, with 51 percent adding that his policies will move the United States in the right direction.

Andy Banducci, College Republicans chairman, said he did not expect anything less from the poll results.

"I'm not really surprised by that," he said, and added that Bush's actions in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 will be historic.

However, not everyone agrees with Banducci.

"As Abraham Lincoln once said, 'You can't fool all of the people all of the time,' " Bob Shepherd, Centre County Democrats chairman, said. "Well, I guess [Bush] fooled 2 percent more than half of all Americans."

Shepherd added that Bush does many things with which the Democratic Party disagrees.

"His misguided thinking ... has successfully led the country into this [war]. It has ruined our reputation," he said.

Although the poll showed most results to be in favor of Bush and his policies, the president scored significantly lower on domestic issues, such as Social Security.

A large majority thought Bush did not improve Social Security in the last four years, and four out of 10 people said they thought he would strengthen it during his second term.

Shepherd said the results did not surprise him.

"It's more or less an open secret. A large part of the Republicans would like to do away with Social Security," he said. "He doesn't have a very good policy."

But Matthew Woessner, assistant professor of public policy, said he understands why Americans responded the way they did.

"Presidential polls are usually rather favorable," he said.

"Although his win was still by a narrow majority, the polls don't surprise me," Woessner added.

Woessner added that what remains a mystery to him is the amount of support the president received for the war effort.

"It's rather surprising that Americans stood by Bush," he said.

People who have supported Bush continue to do so because of their personal views of him, Woessner said.

He added that this directly corresponds to the 56 percent of Americans who feel that the president is a strong leader who is honest and trustworthy, according to the poll.

"One of the things people voted for him for is that he does do what he says he's going to do," political science professor Scott Bennett said.

Bennett offered possible reasons for the poll results.

"One possible thing is there may be a more upbeat mood as we come out of holidays. What surprises me most is that Bush's ratings have not been that high lately," he said.

"I think a lot of it must have to do with the inauguration because nothing has changed on the terror front," Bennet added.