PREPARE to be bamboozled and then, having taken a step back and a deep breath, think to yourselves: "Yes, that's not surprising."

We are now officially in the short campaign, the endgame to a General Election which everyone agrees will be one of the most profound and historic in our history, the culmination of a period when Scotland has been central to the narrative of the United Kingdom.

So, what are we to make of the fact that 46% of UK voters, of whom 90% will be citizens of England, think the SNP having influence over the next Westminster government would be a bad thing?

Perhaps more surprising is the corollary, that so many English voters think it might be not be a bad thing. Just under a third have no view and more than a fifth think it would be a good thing. Yes, more than a fifth of all voters, 22%, think SNP influence on the next government would be a good thing for the UK as a whole.

Among young people that rises to 40%, almost double the number of young voters who thing it would be bad. Among oldsters the result is wildly different, with those fearing the barbarians at the gates of Downing Street in a 65% to 13% majority. Still, given Lord Ashdown saying the SNP would only be there to burn the place down and Balkanise the whole of these islands, the figures are in some ways remarkably benign.

And the whole thing shows what might be fairly termed a Mail/Telegraph demographic. Among Conservative voters the dread factor is 72:13, while for Labour voters it is a much closer 41:29.

Indeed, on the question of preferred outcome, 31% of UK Labour voters think a Labour-SNP informal pact would be the best outcome, while 23% would prefer a full coalition. Only 26% of UK Labour voters would oppose either course.

In some ways this is the most extraordinary finding, that more than half of Labour voters in Britain would be quite sanguine or even enthusiastic about an SNP deal.

To some degree this chimes with the personal leadership ratings in a recent poll which had First Minister Sturgeon as the only UK party leader - even with English voters - to have a positive approval rating. The more they see of her, the more they think she is a an impressive leader and personable woman with whom they could do business.

It would appear that playing the Salmond bogeyman card, with Mr Miliband in his top pocket, is reinforcing the view of those already whipped up into a fervour of anti-Scottishness. But for those South of the Border who take a more relaxed view, Ms Sturgeon's "reaching out" tone and her promise to be "Labour's backbone" may not be scaring all of the horses.

There is more than a month to go, and we saw the degree to which the pro-Union forces threw everything at the referendum last August. It's hard to imagine that a senior UK Civil Servant will intervene this time, but we can expect the usual admix of business and showbiz figures to have their tuppence worth.

Is it going to shift Scottish opinion this time? It doesn't appear that way. Even a ComRes/ITV poll undertaken only in Labour-held Scottish seats showed a 19% swing to the SNP. No-one could fault Jim Murphy for effort, but there is little sign it's working.