BEHIND THE HEADLINES: Public undecided but determined to vote

That’s a few percentage points more than in 2005, but still lagging far behind decades in the recent past. From 1945 numbers hovered between 70 per cent and 85 per cent, until we hit the Millennium when numbers dropped off a cliff – 61.4 per cent across the UK in 2002.

We went into Newport to ask people whether they would be voting, and what they thought of the campaign so far.

Zimbabweans Nozipho Msipa and Martin Ganyo, both 48, have lived in the UK for 13 years. Ms Msipa said: “To be frank, as a foreigner I just feel safer under Labour, even though you can’t really trust politicians.”

But she said although she was certain in her vote, she did not feel inspired by the campaign: “I can’t understand half the things they are saying. I think they are slagging people off rather than talking to people.”

But both agreed they were happy to be part of the political process. Mr Ganyo said: “I love democracy here. People are free to say what they want. I don’t think there’s any rigging and that’s a good thing.”

Mum-of-three Sam White, aged 34, from Maesglas, is split between Labour and UKIP. She said: “I’ll be voting but I’m still in two minds as to what to do. I was going to go UKIP all the way but people have said to me it’s a wasted vote. I think people have just lost trust in the big parties. It’s not so much that UKIP are so attractive, it’s just to see someone different.”

Grandmother-of-seven Sandra Batemen, aged 64, from the Gaer, is also split between UKIP and Labour. She said: “I always used to vote Labour but some of the politicians don’t listen to you. They don’t knock on doors like they used to. I haven’t had a single one this time and I live on a main road. Perhaps they are just too lazy.

“Immigration and the NHS are the main issues for me. There are a couple of different things as well like the job situation for youngsters. There’s not a lot going on for them and they are closing swimming pools and leisure centres.”

Ray Parker, aged 72, commutes to Newport from Cardiff to work at the Argus offices and says he will vote for Labour if there is no Socialist Labour Party candidate on the ballot form. He said: “The whole thing is boring me to tears. About the only politician worth listening to seems to be the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon. It’s not so much what has happened in this election, it’s what’s gone on before when we have been openly lied to. I think people are disengaged.

Referring to the Liberal Democrats’ broken pledge to vote against tuition fee rises, he said: “It must have left a lot of students feeling terribly let-down, voting for the first time and faced with that. I think it’s despicable.”

First time voter Ellie Bale, aged 19, lives just off Cardiff Road in Newport. She said: “I don’t think I’ll know completely until I’m there, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to vote Labour. Their policies appeal to me the most. I was torn between Labour and Green for a while. If I had been able to vote in the last election I would have voted Lib Dem because of the promises for students. Now I’m a lot more cautious about what to listen to.”

Her mum, civil servant Yvonne Bale, aged 47, said: “I never thought I’d say this but I’m slightly undecided. Usually I vote Labour but Miliband doesn’t inspire me as a leader. But I’m not sure I would vote Conservative either. To me, they have done a massive amount of damage over the last few years.”

Yesterday (MON), the Electoral Commission warned of a “turn-out time bomb”, with fewer and fewer young people getting out to vote. In their report, The Power & Voice of Young People in Wales, they said the gap in turn out between generations is widening and warned the next generation may switch off from formal politics altogether.

The report recommends lowering the voting age, overhauling how politics is taught in schools, and a louder voice for young people in Welsh public life.

Falling turn-out is most rapid among people under 24, and the turn-out gap between this age group and those over 65 has roughly doubled since 1970.

In 1964 the turn-out among different age groups was roughly the same, but in 2005 the UK hit “rock bottom”, the commission said, when turn out amongst under 24s hit a record low of just 38.2 per cent. The situation recovered at the last general election (51.8 per cent of under 24s voted) but they said the long-term trend is nevertheless one of decline.

Steve Brooks director of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru said: “Low levels of turn out amongst young people shouldn’t be read as apathy. The evidence suggests young people are political and do value democracy, but this isn’t enough to get them to the polling station.”

There was better news with their conclusion that a collapse in registration rates may have been averted. In the last election, one person could register everyone living in their household but now everyone has to register individually. This mean universities could no longer register all the students at one hall of residence, for example.

But campaigns like Bite the Ballot encouraging people to register seem to have worked. In the 24 hours before the general election voter registration deadline, over 485,000 people registered online to vote.

That figure was borne out by councils across Gwent.

Newport City Council said they had experienced the highest ever voter registration, with the total electorate in Newport West 62,124 and the electorate in Newport East (including part of Monmouthshire) 56,018.

Acting returning officer Will Godfrey said: “This is the highest number of people that have registered to vote in Newport.

“I think the increase in registration is attributable to a number of factors, not least the hard work of the council’s electoral team who have raised awareness of the need to register even sending out reminders to all households earlier this year.”

Newport saw a surge of more than 1,000 new applications to join the electoral register in the last few days before deadline on April 20.

And a spokesman for Blaenau Gwent, where the electorate is 51,332, said they “did experience a late surge in registrations before the deadline but probably not in the numbers experienced by Newport.”

In the week leading up to the electoral registration deadline, Caerphilly County Borough Council received over 2,800 registration requests, bringing the electorate for Caerphilly constituency to 62,793 and the electorate for Islwyn to 55,075.

Monmouth also experienced a rush of around 1,000 applications on the last day, with the final total for the electorate 65,706. “In previous years it would have trickled in but now people can leave it until the last minute,” a spokesman said.

Catherine Farrell, professor of public management with the University of South Wales, said she expects turn-out to be higher than in 2010, and higher than people anticipated at the start of this campaign. “A lot of that can be attributed to the leaders’ debates which got people talking,” she said.

Looking at the problem of lower turn-out among young voters, she said making it easier to vote online would boost numbers: “You can vote online for TV programmes like I’m a Celebrity and X Factor but you can’t in elections. That is the potential for the future. Instead of asking a young person to go off to an unfamiliar polling station, get them to use their devices. People shouldn’t have to leave their houses to vote. They could have a special number to ensure the system didn’t get abused.”

The General Election is on May 7.