IT'S all to play for in York's election, with more than one in three voters still undecided which party to support.

That's the picture emerging from a poll of voters' intentions, conducted by The Press.

The poll showed that 36 per cent of those intending to participate in the election on May 3 have not yet decided who to vote for.

We interviewed 100 prospective voters in the streets of York.

Exactly a quarter, 25, said they definitely would not vote.

And of the 75 who said they did intend to vote, 27 said they had yet to make up their mind which way.

Candidates today said they were stepping up their drive for the final two weeks, in a bid to win round those still undecided.

Small percentage swings could be pivotal in many of the city's wards. At the last City of York election in 2003, Labour's Liz Edge was defeated by only 35 votes in Holgate - missing out on election by one per cent of the vote.

Andy D'Agorne, of the Greens, said: "That poll reflects what we have found. A lot of people are disillusioned with the Liberal Democrats, but are not convinced Labour are the answer, so it is still all to play for in that respect.

"We should do well, certainly, with having a candidate in every ward."

Conservative agent John Galvin said: "We are stepping up our efforts and hope we can swing as many of the undecideds as possible our way."

He said they were finding a lot of support on the doorsteps, which he felt was generated by national support for David Cameron, combined with local disillusionment with the Lib Dems.

Liberal Democrat Steve Galloway said his party's canvassing returns had been encouraging, although 20 per cent of electors were undecided.

When told of our poll's figures of undecided voters, Coun Galloway said: "I don't think any of the parties have delivered all of their election addresses yet - it's only when people have all the literature in front of them that they make a decision.

"This election, people are being thoughtful. They are considering the matter more deeply," he said.

"People are more flexible with the way they vote. People do look at policies of individual parties and their local candidates."

Labour candidate Ken King said: "In some ways this (the 36 per cent undecided figure) demonstrates that people are really thinking about it now. No candidate can take any of the electorates for granted. You really have to work at it and convince them of your policies."

Coun King said he was "not surprised" about the figures of undecided voters in York.

"I just hope that once people have studied all the different manifestos they take a decision and turn out and use their vote.

"People are unhappy about way the city council is being run - and now they have an opportunity to change that," he said.

Dr Neil Carter, senior lecturer in politics at the University of York, said: "It's not unusual for people still to be undecided at this stage. The number of people who make up their mind at last minute has probably increased over the last few years.

"If you go back 20 years, electors identified more closely with one party - the number of people who closely identify with one party is much lower now. People are much likely to vote for one party in one election and another party in another election, or not vote at all."