As has been my habit for the last few days, and as might well be the case for many days to come, I posted a poll on Twitter yesterday. This one was back on political territory, asking:

All the usual caveats on the statistical validity of Twitter polls apply here, especially as there is almost bound to be a bias towards Labour supporters amongst those who I reach on that platform.

That said, I was surprised by the level of delight at a possible Labour victory expressed by the 10,000 or more people voting in this poll. Seventy per cent of those voting seem to be more pleased than anything else at the prospect of an overwhelming Labour victory in the next general election.

As usual, I did not really try to hide my own concerns even while allowing differing views to be expressed. Nineteen per cent of those who voted share my concern about what Labour might do with the power that they win, and have my sympathy. There will be many who vote Labour at the next general election who will wonder about whether the party that now has that name really represents the opinions that they always associated with it.

The third and fourth options represented alternative ways of expressing concern about our electoral system. I was very surprised at how few people opted for the third option, but maybe the fourth was more obvious as an explanation of the sentiment that many will feel about an outcome that will very clearly not reflect the desires of the country as a whole.

Candidly, I found very little encouraging about the result of this poll. If the anticipation of a Labour win is as strong as it suggests, my sense that the scale of buyer's remorse that will follow the election might be sufficiently dramatic to give rise to a massive collapse in support for that party soon thereafter is very strong.

I am not convinced that we are facing any good electoral outcome this year.