John Zogby, legendary US pollster, was in very fine fettle last night at Chatham House, giving a brilliant summary of how opinion in the key demographic groups would influence the November elections.

Relaxing afterwards over nibbles and a delicious glass of Gewurtztraminer at the LeMeridien Hotel on Piccadily, we chatted about his long career working with the likes of Michael Bloomberg and Al Gore. He also, perhaps surprisingly, pointed out that today US political polling takes up relatively little of his time. He is particularly engaged these days studying consumer behaviour in the US and across the world, and has been doing a lot of work on how political opinion in Tunisia and Egypt is shaping the post-Arab Spring landscape in the Middle East.