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For the last few weeks I’ve been breaking the taboo that says you should never discuss politics or religion at dinner by directly asking friends and neighbours who they’re voting for, whether they’re going to vote, and why.

The experiment has reminded me of a couple of important truths: one, that people we really like sometimes have completely different political convictions to us (over half the friends I talked to will not be voting the same way as me tomorrow). And two, that we can only go so far when impressing our opinions on others.

Being opinionated, I did my best to make my friends see things my way. The conversations have been enjoyable and sometimes feisty. It was only when a note of absolute certainty entered the discussion that it polarised, fizzled out and we went back to discussing Game of Thrones or the relegation battle.

For the most part, people are perfectly capable of holding in tension the fact that whilst politics can be a vital means of improving lives it can’t making everything better. And it is perfectly normal to think that the party you’re voting for is the best of the bunch whilst recognising they may not be up to the task.

Some might see this as cynicism; I’d suggest it’s more a healthy scepticism. Churchill recognised it when he said: ‘Many forms of Government will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. It’s the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried!’

On this programme yesterday a man was asked how the outcome of the election would affect him and he said he’d still have to get up in the morning and do his best to get through the day. It wasn’t a political criticism, more an existential reality. There are aspects of life not covered by the party manifesto and nor should they be.

It’s a sign of a healthy society that it is prepared to accept that politics should go just so far and no further. It is the wisdom of democracy that is doesn’t try to politicise the whole of society’s life, even allowing people to defer to other powers. A distinction Jesus alluded to when he told us to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Of course, in some countries political differences threaten life itself. Spare a thought for the people of Burundi. As the world’s third poorest nation enters elections, 40,000 people have fled the country because they are refusing to vote as they’ve been ordered to by the ruling party’s militia. That’s a high price to pay to have a say.

Thank God, we are free to have our say at the polling booth tomorrow without threat of violence or coercion. The outcome may be uncertain, but when the result comes, we should at least be able to live in peace with it. And get back to the challenge of loving neighbours who sometimes don’t vote the way we do.

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