Earlier today, the results of the Student Politics 2010 survey were released.
This was based on interviews with 13,961 final years studying at 30 leading universities in the UK, and was carried out in March 2010.
It showed some quite remarkable results and demonstrates how the student population’s political views have changed quite dramatically since the protest marches of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
For example, 30 per cent of students surveyed plan to vote Conservative in the election, compared with 21 per cent for Labour, 19 per cent for the Liberal Democrats, 6 per cent for the Green Party and 6 per cent for other parties including the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cymru.
Almost one in five students remain undecided about whom to vote for and with 1.5 million students with the vote, this remains a constituency that could make a real difference in some seats.
If you examine the table below and compare it with the UK Polling Reports Target Seats for the Conservatives, you find that the student vote could make a real difference in key target constituencies in Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Lancaster, London, Loughborough, Oxford, Reading and Southampton.
The results are in sharp contrast to a similar poll in 1997 with 12,000 final year students, which showed a very different picture.
Thirteen years ago, only 18 per cent planned to vote Conservative as compared to the 29 per cent who intended to vote Labour in that year’s General Election and 10 per cent who supported the Liberal Democrats.
Cardiff is the only Welsh university featured in the study and again, there is some surprise in the findings, especially for those of us who remember the 1980s and the protests over the miners' strikes on Park Place.
Naturally, one would have expected the Liberal Democrats to lead, given their strong support in Cardiff Central, they actually only hold 25 per cent of the vote as opposed to 27 per cent for the Conservatives. Labour, in contrast, has only 19 per cent of the vote and Plaid Cymru, three per cent.
You could say, to quote, Bob Dylan, that “The Times they are a changin’” but I am sure, unlike my time at Cardiff Uni 25 years ago, most of today's students haven’t even heard of him!
This was based on interviews with 13,961 final years studying at 30 leading universities in the UK, and was carried out in March 2010.
It showed some quite remarkable results and demonstrates how the student population’s political views have changed quite dramatically since the protest marches of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
For example, 30 per cent of students surveyed plan to vote Conservative in the election, compared with 21 per cent for Labour, 19 per cent for the Liberal Democrats, 6 per cent for the Green Party and 6 per cent for other parties including the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cymru.
Almost one in five students remain undecided about whom to vote for and with 1.5 million students with the vote, this remains a constituency that could make a real difference in some seats.
If you examine the table below and compare it with the UK Polling Reports Target Seats for the Conservatives, you find that the student vote could make a real difference in key target constituencies in Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Lancaster, London, Loughborough, Oxford, Reading and Southampton.
The results are in sharp contrast to a similar poll in 1997 with 12,000 final year students, which showed a very different picture.
Thirteen years ago, only 18 per cent planned to vote Conservative as compared to the 29 per cent who intended to vote Labour in that year’s General Election and 10 per cent who supported the Liberal Democrats.
Cardiff is the only Welsh university featured in the study and again, there is some surprise in the findings, especially for those of us who remember the 1980s and the protests over the miners' strikes on Park Place.
Naturally, one would have expected the Liberal Democrats to lead, given their strong support in Cardiff Central, they actually only hold 25 per cent of the vote as opposed to 27 per cent for the Conservatives. Labour, in contrast, has only 19 per cent of the vote and Plaid Cymru, three per cent.
You could say, to quote, Bob Dylan, that “The Times they are a changin’” but I am sure, unlike my time at Cardiff Uni 25 years ago, most of today's students haven’t even heard of him!
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