The depth of the electorate's frustration with the political class has been laid bare in a poll.

Research by ICM for the Guardian found the overwhelming feelings about politics among 18-24 year olds were boredom and anger - with 34% saying the former and the same proportion the latter.

Among those who rate their chance of voting as four or lower on a 10-point scale, 41% said anger was their main reason, compared to 40% who said they were bored.

After ex-Labour minister Denis MacShane was jailed for expenses fraud, 46% said they were discouraged from voting because "MPs are just on the take".

But only 2% of the electorate regard the inconvenience of registering and actually casting a vote as a reason not to do so - suggesting ideas such as weekend elections or electronic voting are unlikely to improve the situation.

The public also still appears to believe that politics matters. Some 86% said the "decisions politicians make" were either "very important" or "fairly important" to their own lives.

Some 62% claimed to discuss "politics or the sort of issues affected by politics" with friends and f amily at least once every fortnight, and 29% said they did so at least "every few days".

ICM Research interviewed an online sample of 2023 adults between December 20 and 22.