Sadly, it's not just the poorly informed. I've heard centrist US voices I respect take the UK's 'lack of freedom of speech' and 'endemic street crime' as a given. It shows that if the zone is flooded thoroughly enough it permeates public sphere's bedrock and infects all discourse. Very disturbing.

Yep. Labour won popular vote by almost a full one per cent in its 1951 defeat. Fun fact: Churchill never won a general election popular vote.