First time voters in the General Election

All the evidence suggests it is going to be a close-run thing. The Conservatives are ahead in the polls, but possibly not by enough to secure an outright majority. Nick Clegg’s unexpected surge of popularity following the first leaders’ debate turned this into a genuine three-horse race. And even Gordon Brown’s so-called ‘bigotgate’ gaffe last week didn’t cause Labour as much damage as some national tabloids would have liked. It is all still to play for, with a hung Parliament a distinct possibility.

Few would have predicted when the campaign began at the start of April just what a tense and gripping election this would be.

Then, apathy reigned. The expenses scandal, the widespread belief that too many politicians were only in it for themselves and the sense that there was no real choice, left many ordinary people questioning whether they would even bother to vote.

Among the most apathetic of all were the younger generation – those aged 18 to 34, many of whom would be voting for the first time, and many of whom felt alienated from politicians and their world.

Then it all changed. The leaders’ debates ignited interest in a way no one had anticipated. And suddenly a computer-savvy generation of young, first-time voters were tweeting and chattering away to each other on the web about which leader had said what, and who had the best policies on education, tuition fees, the economy, immigration and even Trident.

The Electoral Commission revealed there had been a last-minute rush to register to vote – much of it from young people aged 18 to 25. And universities and student unions up and down the country urged young people to make their voices heard.

But who are they going to vote for?

We talked to first-time voters at York St John University to try to find out…

MICHAEL Peck would have voted if he could, but he lives in Grimsby and won’t be able to get home. Didn’t he think of registering for a postal vote? “I didn’t know you could!” says the 19-year-old performance studies student.

Michael admits that, until he went to university, he wasn’t bothered about politics. He has become more interested since starting his course. But missing the chance to vote doesn’t worry him too much.

He would have gone for the Lib Dems, he says. “I’m not fond of Labour at the minute, because of how the country is run. I don’t think it is going very well.” But while he understands the importance of the right to vote, he doesn’t understand enough about the parties’ policies to make an informed decision.

Did he see the leaders’ debates? “I saw the one that Nick Clegg kind of did well in. But I still feel I don’t know enough about it.”

So far, so studenty, perhaps. Other students sitting in the Students’ Union Bar at York St John University are much more switched on to politics, however.

“I’m going to vote,” says 19-year-old Laura Cowie. “I’ll be voting back at home.” Probably quite a lot of people her age won’t bother, she accepts. “But my parents always say people died for your right to vote. You might as well do it.”

Home for Laura is Birtley, near Newcastle. “It’s between the Lib Dems and Labour where I live,” says the theology and religious studies student. “The Conservatives are never going to get a seat there.”

It is the TV debates that have really caught her interest, Laura says. “I didn’t know what any of the policies were until the debates.” She is inclining towards the Lib Dems. “It is time for a change. I saw the first debate on TV, the one where Nick Clegg really came across. What he was saying seemed so relevant.”

She doesn’t agree with everything he said. She is not sure about his stance on Europe. “I’m waiting to be persuaded on that.” But she likes the Lib Dem proposal to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000.

Lots of people in the north east are struggling. Her mother lost her job in a hospital laundry, and her father lost one of his two jobs, as a retained firefighter, although he still works in a clerical job in a pharmaceuticals plant.

“But a lot of people are on the dole where I live,” she says. “It’s a real struggle.”

Like Laura, Ben Barker, 20, from Blackburn and also studying theology and religious studies, is determined to vote. “I want to make sure my voice is heard.”

If he was voting in Blackburn, he would probably go for Jack Straw, he says, because he has a good reputation as a local MP. “He has worked hard.”

But in York he would have to think long and hard. Labour have taken a lot out of the country and not put much back, he believes, and it might be time for a change. Besides, he doesn’t much like Gordon Brown, although he feels that the media fuss over his ‘bigoted woman’ gaffe in Rochdale last week went way too far.

“Arguably he should never have said it, but he did. He has apologised. And at the end of the day it is not The X Factor. You vote for the person who can do that job.”

Sadly for Labour, he doesn’t think Mr Brown is that man. “He might be a good MP, but it seems like he’s not fit to be PM.” So he will probably vote Lib Dem, Ben says. “They seem to be the more honest of the three, and more relevant.”

Carl Walters, 20, doesn’t agree. After spending six months serving as a reserves senior aircraftsman with the RAF Regiment in Afghanistan, he is in the first year of a history degree. And he doesn’t like Nick Clegg’s stance on Trident. Not replacing our nuclear deterrent, Carl says, would “reduce our world influence. People would respect us a lot less. You have to be able to defend your own country”.

He doesn’t like Labour either, though. He’s against their ‘tax on jobs’ – the proposed one per cent increase in National Insurance – and thinks Tony Blair was wrong to go to war in Iraq.

The intervention in Afghanistan is justified, he says. “We’re making a real difference to people’s lives there – putting electricity and runing water in place, making the country more stable.” But the Iraq war was illegal.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, Ben will be voting Conservative. “I agree with their education policies, the idea of more independently run state schools.”

All the students are worried about the economy, and about getting a job when they graduate. Carl hopes to join the RAF with a commission. “But there’s no guarantee. And if I don’t get in, it could be difficult to find a job.”

Laura agrees. She’s in her second year, and hopes ultimately to become an RE teacher. “But what’s going to happen if I can’t get a job?”

Worryingly for Labour, they all seem to feel it’s time for a change. But they also suspect the most likely outcome of the election is a hung Parliament.

And what do they think of that? “It will help man nor beast,” says Ben. “It will be chaos,” adds Laura.

The younger generation of first-time voters may be newly energised about the political process, but they are also pretty pessimistic about what lies ahead.

The Twitter election

THIS is an election that has, like never before, been influenced by the rise of Twitter and other social networking sites, says York St John University Students’ Union president Jason Wallis. And that, combined with the TV debates, has helped to energise younger voters.

The impact of Twitter and the internet could be seen in Gordon Brtown’s encounter with Rochdale woman Gillian Duffy last week. Within two hours of Mr Brown’s ‘bigoted woman’ gaffe, the terms ‘bigoted woman’, ‘gillainduffy’ and ‘eastern Europeans’ were the top three trending topics on Twitter.

Politicians have found it hard to come to terms with that kind of flood of online gossip and chat, in which ordinary, computer-literate poeople set and change the agenda at speeds politicians cannot keep up with.

They try, says Jason, a York St John graduate who hopes to join the police after finishing his term of office this year.

“But they haven’t really got to grips with it yet. They are all on Facebook and Twitter, but they are using it in the wrong way, as a billboard.”

That isn’t what such sites are all about, Jason says. They are not supposed to be for one-way communications. They’re about sharing ideas, about engaging. “It has to be a two-way street.”

The comedian Jimmy Carr has it sussed, Jason says. “Every time he’s going somewhere to give a show, he uses Twitter to ask questions about where he’s going so he can make his gags relevant. That’s the kind of thing I’d like to see the politicians do.”

They will learn, he believes, although it hasn’t happened this time around.

“I think by the time of the next General Election, there will be more sophisticated use of these kind of tools.” But such sites have already made it much easier for younger people to be switched on to the election. “It has got younger people engaged. I’m on Twitter and Facebook all the time.”