In his Parliament of Whores, PJ O’Rourke gave one section the stirring title “Our Government: What The F*** Do They Do All Day And Why Does It Cost So Goddamned Much Money?” But as my research confirmed in various ways, most voters do not see government primarily as an expensive nuisance.
People in all three places had a pretty clear view about the unorthodox circumstances giving rise to the contests.
He has already won back large numbers of voters since he entered Number 10, and both the polls and the focus groups confirm that many more are prepared to wait longer before making up their minds.
Sceptics will make valid points about this finding but there are good reasons to accept the picture at face value. It has him taking 50 per cent of the vote to Labour’s 33 per cent.
Even in countries where voters would prefer a republic, it is a long way down their list of priorities.
As two thirds of people in Britain agreed, the monarchy might seem a strange system in this day and age, but it works.
Meanwhile British and American voters both back supporting Kyiv – but differ from the Ukrainians on what that should look like.
By 50 per cent to 28 per cent, Scottish voters said they would rather have a law made in Westminster that they agreed with than a law made in Scotland that they disagreed with.
As I crossed the border after three days that I will never forget, I felt a mixture of despair, admiration and optimism.
Only one in ten 2019 Tories – let alone anyone else – expect an outright Conservative victory next time round. Such a sense of inevitability could prove the hardest political challenge of all.
My latest focus groups suggest both parties expect to profit if the former president is on the ticket. They can’t both be right.
One of my hopes is that this biography might serve as a valuable guide to the electorate in the months leading up to the next general election, which must be held by January 2025.
The new leader’s task will be to turn out as many as possible of those who backed Johnson in 2019. Tories are more likely to think the two would be very different leaders – but nearly half of those we sampled suggested that the choice will make little difference.
Opinion in the region is far from monolithic – but with a widespread expectation that the conflict could spread beyond its current borders.
It was my fourth visit to the country since Russia tried, but failed, to launch a full-scale invasion in February last year. The strength of my commitment to Ukraine grows with each visit.