Nancy Pelosi’s ego hardest hit.

(Top of The Ticket/LA Times)– With so much national attention focused on the keen criminology insights of Arizona’s Clarence the Talking Sheriff, a stunning new Gallup Poll on Congress almost flew right by.

The new national survey finds that within only five days of Republicans taking majority control of the House of Representatives on Jan. 4, Americans’ approval of the bicameral body’s job shot up more than 50%, from its record low of 13% to 20%.

The spurt in support came despite the candidly ominous opening speech by the new Speaker John Boehner, “Our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy.”

The job approval of Congress has been trending downward for much of the past two years under the large Democratic majorities in both houses and the leaderships of now ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi and barely surviving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who lost six of his 10-seat margin in the Nov. 2 midterms.