An opinion poll suggests most Scots have a negative opinion about Donald Trump, surprise surprise. It also suggests Trump is less popular among the Scottish public than he is among the British public overall, a finding that was warmly welcomed by supporters of Scottish independence, who think Scots are so much nicer and lovelier than English people, yeah right.

Dig down deeper into the poll though and something more interesting emerges, something a bit weird too. Generally, the Ipsos Scotland Political Pulse survey found that 71% of the Scottish public hold an unfavourable opinion of Trump (compared to 57% of the British public) and that 18% hold a favourable opinion of him. A similar proportion of Scots – 70% – have an unfavourable view of Elon Musk, with 12% holding a favourable opinion. No one is surprised.

But what is a little surprising is the breakdown by age group. Among the over-55s, 81% have an unfavourable view of Trump and it’s pretty high with the 35-54 group as well: 70%. The under-35s though are quite a bit different. A majority of them still have an unfavourable view of Trump but only just: 56%. More than one in five – 27% – have a favourable view, nearly three times the number of over-55s who do. A lot of young Scots seem to like Donald Trump.

On the face of it, this would appear to be upside-down from what it should be. Most of the research out there suggests older people are more conservative and right-wing and younger people are more radical and left-wing, and voting patterns in the........

© Herald Scotland