Today's Politico Playbook Audio Briefing is presented by Morgan Stanley.

Good Friday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing.

Impeachment, the acquittal of Donald Trump, and the durability of Bernie Sanders as a presidential candidate has scrambled the battle for control of Congress.

And both Republicans and

Democrats are working behind the scenes to gauge the impact as they gear up for a pricey race for

control of the House of Representatives. The tumultuous political climate has given new hope to Republicans,

who are privately skeptical of President Donald Trump's prediction that Kevin McCarthy

will be the next speaker come 2021. Internal polling commissioned by the National Republican

Congressional Committee has given the party a faint glimmer of hope. A new survey shows that

voters in districts targeted by both parties are skeptical of Bernie Sanders. His approval rating

is 42%, and his disapproval rating at 53%, which they believe will help boost their candidates

for the House. In these districts, voters prefer Trump 48 to 43%. But at the same time, Democrats

believe they have intensity on their side. A private poll

conducted by the House Majority Pack, the Democratic Super PAC, showed that a majority of those

who supported convicting Trump said impeachment will be, quote, very important in their decision

about who to vote for in November. But notably, in the same poll, the majority of voters,

52% said they believe Trump should have been acquitted. If nothing else, the Trump era has

shown that the political winds blow stiff, and then not at all. In a few months, we may be

talking about something completely different. The president told reporters on Air Force One last night that he is considering Doug Collins

among the candidates for permanent replacement for Director of National Intelligence.

Of course, Collins is running against Senator Kelly LaFleur in Georgia,

and Republican leadership would like to stop that intra-party fight.

...