Youth vote 'could be key to win'

About 44% of 18 to 25-year-olds have yet to decide which party to back on 7 May, research by Populus, for left-leaning think tank Demos, suggested.
Demos said the party that could tap into this pool of young voters "may just win the keys to Downing Street".
The survey of more than 1,000 18 to 25-year-olds also found parties needed to use social media more effectively.
Demos said Skype or FaceTime MP surgeries, hustings via Facebook and online voting could all boost youth political participation. The research found more than three quarters (77%) intended to vote - but only 30% of young women said they were interested compared with 48% of their male peers.
Asked to name the issues they were most concerned about, 69% included the cost of living, 62% affordable housing, 58% unemployment and the same proportion said the NHS.
Exactly half put online privacy among their main concerns - more than the environment (45%), immigration (43%), tax avoidance (37%) or Britain's future in the EU (34%).
Almost one in five (19%) said celebrity endorsement would make them more likely to vote, while (18%) said it would make them less likely.
More than half (56%) said they would be more likely to vote if there were more working class MPs, while fewer (31%) cited more women MPs as a factor, and an even smaller number (27%) cited ethnic minority MPs.