A Jan. 20-25 CBS News/New York Times poll reminds us that “Congressional approval has historically been low, rarely rising above 50 percent in the 30 years the CBS News poll has been asking about it.”

But the pollsters go on to say that 2005 was an especially rough year for Congress. Approval now stands at 29 percent--about where it was in January 1994 (30 percent). That, of course, was the year when Republicans took over both chambers of Congress.

As is usually the case, a majority--57 percent--approve of the job their own Member is doing.

In the meantime, a Jan. 23-26 ABC News/Washington Post poll reports that although Democrats hold a big lead on the generic ballot question (54 percent of registered voters would vote for a Democrat, 38 percent for a Republican), there is “no broad anti-incumbency sentiment in the country.”

In the ABC/Post poll, 64 percent approve of their own Member’s work.

Bribing Congress. When asked by the CBS/New York Times poll whether the recent reports that lobbyists may have bribed Members were the “the way things work in Congress,” a rather striking 77 percent said yes. Just 16 percent said the bribes were isolated incidents.

In addition, 57 percent said that about half or more Members of Congress accept bribes or gifts that affect their votes, while 36 percent said they believe some do and a minuscule 5 percent said that hardly any do.

Then again, in a new ABC/Post poll, “lobbying reform” ranked 14th on a list of 14 issues.

Twenty-four percent felt their own Member would probably accept a bribe, while 55 percent said he or she would not. Twenty-one percent weren’t sure.

Collateral Damage. When asked how damaging various things were to the president and his administration in 2005, 37 percent told Harris Interactive interviewers in a Jan. 12-17 poll that the war in Iraq was very damaging, 34 percent said so about the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 30 percent felt that way about the revelation of warrantless wiretapping, 19 percent felt that way about the indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), 17 percent felt that way about the leaks in the Valerie Plame case and the indictment of Scooter Libby and 14 percent said so about the investigation of Karl Rove.

Iran Update. The new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg partnership released its first poll last week.

In a Jan. 22-25 survey, 57 percent said that if Iran continues to produce material that can be used to develop nuclear weapons, they would support the U.S. taking military action; 33 percent were opposed.

In the Jan. 23-26 ABC/Post poll, 42 percent supported “U.S. bombing Iran’s nuclear development sites” to try to prevent Iran from developing nuclear technology; 54 percent did not.

In a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, 59 percent said that “if diplomacy fails,” they would support using whatever military force was necessary to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

Nearly seven in 10 said Iran currently has a nuclear weapons program. Fifty-four percent said they were confident of the ability of the Bush administration to handle the situation; 43 percent were not.

Forty-seven percent in the poll said Iran is more of a threat to the world than Iraq was before the U.S. took action, while 25 percent said it was less of a threat.

In another question, solid majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents said they were very concerned that Iran would supply nuclear weapons to terrorists. A near-majority of Democrats and a solid majority of Republicans felt Iran would attack a neighboring country with the weapons. Forty-eight percent of Republicans and 48 percent of Democrats felt that Iran would try to attack the United States.

Partisanship and the Economy. A Pew Research Center Jan. 4-8 poll reveals the degree to which political polarization is shaping attitudes about the economy.

Self-identified Republicans have higher incomes than self-identified Democrats, but at every income level, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the economy is in good shape.

Sixty-five percent of Republicans with household incomes of at least $75,000 say the economy is in excellent or good shape. By comparison, 31 percent of Democrats at the same income level say so--a 34-point gap.

For those with household incomes under $50,000, there is a 31-point gap, with 48 percent of Republicans positive about the economy compared to 17 percent of Democrats.

The partisan gap on people’s personal financial evaluations is smaller than the partisan gap on views of national economic conditions.

Immigration. Also in the Pew survey, 63 percent of self-identified conservatives considered it a top priority to make it tougher for illegal immigrants to enter the U.S., compared to 48 percent of moderates and 39 percent of liberals.

Karlyn H. Bowman is a resident fellow at AEI.