The Amish, to their misfortune, have turned out to be a key group of voters in Pennsylvania and Ohio – so PBS journeyed to Amish land to talk with voters who don’t have TVs or radios or computers, and listening to their interviews was like hearing the voices of time travelers from the distant past who’d unexpectedly landed in modern America.

‘What did he make of politics?’ PBS asked one older Amish gentleman.

‘Well,’ he said politely, ‘He didn’t follow politics closely.’

‘What did he make of Obama?’ The intrepid interviewer asked.

‘Well,’ the Amish gentleman hesitated, then said puzzled, ‘Obama’s brought a lot of new things into the world. He pays young men not to work. Why should a young man work when Obama gives him money and cell phones?’

‘And we’ve got people,’ he added, bewilderment deepening, ‘who’re changing their sex. If God had meant me to be a woman he’d have made me a woman.’

Hunting the latest hot swing voters PBS had stumbled into a forgotten land with people who, unfamiliar with our modern ways, actually sounded reasonable.