A new this Punchbowl News survey of “senior” Congressional staffers finds 72 percent of respondents believe Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat convicted felon former President Trump in the Electoral College next month – and that 77 percent think the Dems have more momentum in the House and Senate. By partisan breakdown, 46 percent of Republican aides see Harris winning and 55 percent see Dems as having more momentum in the race for Congress, while 99 and 100 percent of Dems see a Harris win and more momentum on Capitol Hill, respectively.

Not sure if it really means anything. But hard to see it meaning nothing either. While we can’t say this is true, it’s quite easy to imagine that the staffers, being extensions of members/senators themselves, are privy to their bosses’ campaigns’ internal polling – for which the pollsters are most certainly also testing the presidential race – and the “vibes” from their contituents.

“Nearly all (96 percent) of senior staffers think the Harris-Walz presidential ticket will help Democrats in other races… Republican senior staffers thought quite the opposite about their party’s ticket. Almost half of GOP respondents (46 percent) think Trump and VP nominee Sen JD Vance (R-Ohio) will harm Republicans down the ballot,” Punchbowl writes, letting the finding speak for itself rather than interpreting it. Maybe this is because their ultra-plugged-in Beltway reader base don’t need it interpreted for them, but who knows. The down-ballot fear does come across as sincere: a Republican staffer is worried about having to find a new job because their incumbent boss loses a race that would have been winnable if not for Lord Orange at the top seems believable enough.