Sian Davis hears the thoughts of a virgin voter.
Now that the election is days away and the TV debates are done and dusted, it’s make your mind up time. But which way are first time voters minded to vote, and what made them decide – or what’s stopping them?
In order to gain an indication of this, I spoke to Jaide North (19), a call centre operator who works in Basildon and lives in Benfleet, Essex.
Do you know who will be voting for?
No, is the simple answer. I have been watching the debates on TV and I found Nicola Sturgeon the best debater because of the way she related to the viewers. But that’s pointless because the leader of the SNP is not someone that I can vote for.
Of the other parties, which one catches your eye?
On a personal level Nigel Farage is not for me, neither is Nick Clegg due to his past failure to keep his promise on student fees. Ed Milliband does not have the policies. He doesn’t seem to answer any questions when he is asked them. To me, it seems he is only helping the unemployed and hasn’t answered where all the spending is going to come from or how he is going to help the younger generation with their future. There is no exact plan that I can relate to. The same with the Green Party – there is nothing that I can relate to in regards to their policies.
So, this leaves me with the Conservative Party and a number of things jump out for me with David Cameron: he is keen to keep the income tax bracket the same and for a young working person this is definitely going to help me with my future. The help-to-buy scheme is also something that will definitely help me with my future.
Are you keen to vote?
Yes, but it is very hard to decide as apart from those two policies from the Conservatives nothing else really jumps out at me. It is not a very easy decision to make and I want to make a good decision for myself and make the vote count. I try not to listen to other people around me as I don’t want to make a silly decision.
Do think a lot of first time voters will vote?
I’m not sure a lot will, to be honest. For me, it is not a clear cut decision to make, as there is not a leader among the parties that really stands out. The way the voting system is, there is a chance that the vote could be wasted if you vote for a minority party, so it seems a bit pointless not to vote for either Labour or Conservative. A lot of people whether old or young don’t want this and are looking to seek a change for the country but no one really has policies I agree with.