Birmingham Pre FG

THE QUALITATIVE ELECTION STUDY OF BRITAIN 2015

Birmingham Pre-Election Focus Groupconducted April 25th 2015

Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset

Version 1.1

Date of release: 5 November 2015

Principal InvestigatorDr. Edzia Carvalho, University of Dundee

International Co-InvestigatorDr. Kristi Winters, GESIS, Cologne

Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Small Grant SG142740

and supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, GESIS-Leibniz Institute (Cologne) and University of Dundee

QESB Contacts

qualesb@gmail.com e.carvalho@dundee.ac.uk kristi.winters@gesis.org

http://wintersresearch.wordpress.com

READ ME

‘QESB’qualesb2015 @qualesb

Birmingham Pre FG

Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset Version 1.0

On copyright and attribution

Copyright of this transcript belongs to Dr. Edzia Carvalho and Dr. Kristi Winters. Individuals may re-use this document/publication free of charge in any format for research, private study or internal circulation within an organisation. You must re-use it accurately and not present it in a misleading context. You must acknowledge the author, the QES Britain project title, and the source document/publication.

Recommended citation: Carvalho, E. and K. Winters. 2015. 'The Qualitative Election Study of Britain 2015 Dataset', version 1.0. Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Small Grant SG142740 and supported by GESIS, Carnegie Corporation, and University of Dundee. Available at: http://wintersresearch.wordpress.com

On the transcription

All participants’ names have been changed and any direct or indirect identifiers removed to protect their anonymity

The transcripts in Version 1.0 do not have enhanced data recovery including non-verbal communication. It includes the basic transcription of words said by participants. The participants have been identified through attribution by the moderator or other participants and by an initial attribution by the investigators. Subsequent versions of the dataset will verify attribution of participants by video identification.

The transcripts in this version also do not include extensive instructions given to participants at the beginning of the groups, introductions by participants, and exchanges between participants and moderators during exercises.

Initial Transcription by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: m.mckillen@btopenworld.com

Reporting conventions used

We have used ** to indicate words, phrases or sentences which we could not hear.

Italic font indicates we have taken a guess at a word/name etc.

Words in parentheses {} indicate physical gestures or what can be heard on the tape but cannot be clearly articulated into specific words.

Removal of direct and indirect identifiers are set off with + word +

*Participant ID numbers added to version 1.1

Birmingham Pre FG

Date of focus group: 25 April 2015

Location: University of Birmingham, Birmingham

Moderator 1: Dr. Kristi Winters

Moderator 2: Dr. Edzia Carvalho

Research assistant: Thom Oliver

Participants:

2015 Alias

ID Sex

Special Category

Age group Supporter Party Strength

Pre Group

Post Group Constituency

2015 vote preference

Charles 2015-001-GE-EN M SAH parent 34-41 N NA NA Birmingham No Edgbaston Y, and partyJessica 2015-002-GE-EN F N 26-33 N (vote Green) *(6) Birmingham No Ladywood Y, and partySophie 2015-004-GE-EN F N 26-33 N NA NA Birmingham No Ladywood Y, and partyPeggy 2015-006-GE-EN F Unemployed 18-25 N NA NA Birmingham No Selly Oak Y, not which partyVince 2015-003-GE-EN M Student 18-25 N NA NA Birmingham No Selly Oak y, not which partySanjay 2015-005-GE-EN M N 34-41 Y Labour 4 Birmingham No Solihull Y, and partyWhitney 2015-007-GE-EN F N 34-41 Y Labour 4 Birmingham No Selly Oak Y, not which party

Birmingham Pre FG

ContentsCAMPAIGN IMPRESSIONS....................................................................................................................13

Charles.............................................................................................................................................13

Charles.............................................................................................................................................13

Charles.............................................................................................................................................13

Charles.............................................................................................................................................13

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................14

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................14

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................14

Vince................................................................................................................................................14

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................14

Charles.............................................................................................................................................14

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................14

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................15

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................15

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................15

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................16

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................16

Vince................................................................................................................................................16

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................17

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................17

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................17

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................17

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................18

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................18

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................18

MEDIA CONSUMPTION........................................................................................................................18

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................19

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................19

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................19

Vince................................................................................................................................................19

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................19

Charles.............................................................................................................................................19

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Sophie..............................................................................................................................................19

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................19

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................19

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................19

Vince................................................................................................................................................19

Charles.............................................................................................................................................19

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................20

Vince................................................................................................................................................20

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................20

Charles.............................................................................................................................................20

Vince................................................................................................................................................20

PARTY LEADER HANDOUT...................................................................................................................20

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................20

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................21

Charles.............................................................................................................................................21

Vince................................................................................................................................................21

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................21

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................22

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................22

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................22

Vince................................................................................................................................................22

Charles.............................................................................................................................................22

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................22

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................22

Vince................................................................................................................................................22

Charles.............................................................................................................................................22

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................23

Vince................................................................................................................................................23

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................23

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................23

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................23

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................23

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................23

Vince................................................................................................................................................24

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Sophie..............................................................................................................................................24

Vince................................................................................................................................................24

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................24

Vince................................................................................................................................................24

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................24

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................24

Vince................................................................................................................................................24

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................24

Vince................................................................................................................................................24

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................24

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................24

Charles.............................................................................................................................................24

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................25

Vince................................................................................................................................................25

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................25

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................25

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................25

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................25

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................25

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................25

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................25

Vince................................................................................................................................................25

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................26

Vince................................................................................................................................................26

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................26

Vince................................................................................................................................................26

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................26

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................26

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................26

Charles.............................................................................................................................................26

Vince................................................................................................................................................26

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................27

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................27

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................27

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Whitney...........................................................................................................................................27

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................27

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................27

Vince................................................................................................................................................27

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................27

Charles.............................................................................................................................................27

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................27

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................27

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................27

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................27

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................27

Vince................................................................................................................................................28

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................28

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................28

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................28

Charles.............................................................................................................................................28

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................28

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................28

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................28

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................28

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................28

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................29

Vince................................................................................................................................................29

Charles.............................................................................................................................................29

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................29

Vince................................................................................................................................................29

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................29

Vince................................................................................................................................................29

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................29

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................29

Vince................................................................................................................................................29

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................29

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................30

Vince................................................................................................................................................30

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Vince................................................................................................................................................30

Vince................................................................................................................................................30

Charles.............................................................................................................................................30

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................30

Vince................................................................................................................................................30

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................30

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................30

Vince................................................................................................................................................30

Charles.............................................................................................................................................30

Vince................................................................................................................................................30

Charles.............................................................................................................................................31

Vince................................................................................................................................................31

Vince................................................................................................................................................31

Charles.............................................................................................................................................31

Charles.............................................................................................................................................31

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................31

Vince................................................................................................................................................31

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................31

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................31

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................32

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................32

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................32

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................32

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................32

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................32

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................32

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................32

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................32

Vince................................................................................................................................................32

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TRAPPED IN A LIFT...............................................................................................................................33

Vince................................................................................................................................................33

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................33

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................33

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................33

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................33

Vince................................................................................................................................................33

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................33

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................33

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................33

Charles.............................................................................................................................................33

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................33

Charles.............................................................................................................................................33

Vince................................................................................................................................................33

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................33

PARTY CONSIDER VOTING FOR HANDOUT..........................................................................................34

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................34

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................34

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................34

Vince................................................................................................................................................35

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................35

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................35

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................35

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................35

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................35

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................35

Vince................................................................................................................................................35

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................36

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................36

Charles.............................................................................................................................................36

Charles.............................................................................................................................................36

Charles.............................................................................................................................................36

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................37

VOTE CHOICE CONSIDERATIONS.........................................................................................................37

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Whitney...........................................................................................................................................37

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................38

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................38

Vince................................................................................................................................................38

Vince................................................................................................................................................38

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................38

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................38

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................39

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................39

Charles.............................................................................................................................................39

DEBATES..............................................................................................................................................40

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................40

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................40

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................40

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................41

Vince................................................................................................................................................41

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................41

Vince................................................................................................................................................41

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................41

Vince................................................................................................................................................42

Charles.............................................................................................................................................42

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................42

Charles.............................................................................................................................................42

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................42

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................43

Charles.............................................................................................................................................43

Vince................................................................................................................................................43

Charles.............................................................................................................................................43

Vince................................................................................................................................................43

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................44

Vince................................................................................................................................................44

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................44

Charles.............................................................................................................................................44

Charles.............................................................................................................................................44

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Whitney...........................................................................................................................................44

Vince................................................................................................................................................44

VOTER REGISTRATION.........................................................................................................................45

Vince................................................................................................................................................45

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................45

Vince................................................................................................................................................45

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................45

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................46

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................46

Vince................................................................................................................................................46

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................46

Vince................................................................................................................................................46

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................46

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................47

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................47

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................47

Vince................................................................................................................................................47

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................47

Vince................................................................................................................................................47

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................47

Vince................................................................................................................................................47

Charles.............................................................................................................................................47

Sanjay..............................................................................................................................................47

OUTCOME PREDICTIONS.....................................................................................................................48

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................48

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................48

Vince................................................................................................................................................48

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................48

Vince................................................................................................................................................48

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................48

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................48

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................48

Peggy...............................................................................................................................................49

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................49

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Charles.............................................................................................................................................49

Vince................................................................................................................................................49

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................49

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................49

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................49

Vince................................................................................................................................................49

Charles.............................................................................................................................................49

Jessica..............................................................................................................................................50

Vince................................................................................................................................................50

Charles.............................................................................................................................................50

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................50

Sophie..............................................................................................................................................50

Whitney...........................................................................................................................................50

Birmingham Pre FG

Transcript

CAMPAIGN IMPRESSIONS Moderator 1: Thinking a little bit about the election, maybe the literature you've received or the contact with the parties you've had, the conversations you've had with your friends, or the media, what are your impressions of the campaign so far? Maybe if we just put somebody on the spot. We'll start with Charles and move across, but of course for other questions, when people want to volunteer...

Charles: Are you talking nationally or locally?

Moderator 1: For you here, locally I guess but you can talk about the national campaign.

Charles: I feel it's a lot different. One thing I get locally is there seems to be a big disparity in funding. The leaflets you get for the Labour Party seem to have been rolled off an old...

Moderator 1: Mimeograph?

Charles: Exactly. And then the Conservative ones are much more glossy. That's one thing that struck me about the difference between them, and obviously the big Conservative party posters, the billboards they've got one in +location+ from the Labour Party in that respect. So it seemed to be an unbalanced for me on a local level, whereas nationally, obviously, it's a different picture.

Moderator 1: And the different picture nationally for you is?

Charles: It's less about the kind of formal communications in terms of leaflets and posters and stuff and it's more about media coverage and so now, even more than last time, we can pick your own media coverage exactly as we want. So the story I'd get, I suspect, is just the story I want anyway, because it's who I'm following on Twitter, whose articles I'm reading. So I'm quite conscious that I'm making my own campaign.

Birmingham Pre FG

Moderator 1: That's great; thank you so much.

Jessica: Interestingly, I'm a local level. I've only had leaflets from UKIP and from the Green party, strangely, but I'm from Ladywood, which is notoriously...

Sophie: You see, I'm Labour as well and I only had some from Labour and literally no one else.

Jessica: I've had nothing from Labour, which shocks me because Labour is... It's going to be Labour, no matter what.

Vince: Maybe that's why they're not...

Sophie: I got this leaflet and I was like I didn't know why they were bothering, because what is it, the safest Labour seat in the country? It's not going anywhere. It sort of makes the whole thing a bit boring; you almost want it to be a bit more exciting.

Charles: I'm Edgbaston and this is the first time I've ever lived in a constituency which is marginal. I suddenly thought about three weeks ago, I thought, 'I've got power for the first time!' So I tweeted the Conservative candidate and the Labour candidate and said 'why should I vote for either of you?' And the Labour candidate rang me up seven times and the Conservative candidate sent me a massive email and asked me, 'anything you want to know?' I felt like drunk with power, because my vote's never mattered before.

Moderator 1: That was a great exchange, thanks. But getting to Jessica, you haven't had much on the local, you've had unsurprising leaflets on the local level.

Jessica: Yeah. Alas, my boyfriend's taken them and thrown them away, because he's gone 'we've seen this before.' But we've got UKIP and Green party leaflets about three times, the exact same ones, for some reason. But if you look at the quality of the leaflets we get it's quite funny, because the UKIP one, you get blurry pictures and about 10 words, whereas the Green party have got a nice crisp picture and about 40 words. So just, like, looking at the quality of the leaflet can tell you a lot about how much effort they've put into their campaign as well, which I think is quite interesting.

Moderator 1: And your impressions of the national general campaign?

Birmingham Pre FG

Jessica: To be honest, I haven't really been following it that much because I think they're all much of a muchness. I'm probably going to vote Green, if I'm honest, just because they are not one of the major parties, and I'm so fed up with all of the major parties.

Moderator 1: That's something we've heard in other groups as well, so thanks for that. Peggy, how about you?

Peggy: My constituency is Selly Oak. I used to be Brownwood but they've merged them all together, which I think they did at the last election, but it's been Labour, since '97 we've had the same MP, and even though it's a marginal seat I still feel like he's going to get in again. So regardless if I'd vote for another party, I still think Labour are a sure thing, I'd say, in the West Midlands. You see on the map, it's just red! (group laughter) And with the leaflets that have come through my door, I've had all except Green party, I haven't had any Green party. But I'll just mention the UKIP one, the differences are there's spelling mistakes on it, and literally hardly anything about policies, apart from immigration and Europe. That's it. The other ones, especially Labour, he's gone through what he has done in the last couple of years so you've also got that to think about. And for Conservatives, again it's like not really much information but it's very glossy, it's very showy off. As for the general election, I have to say you don't have a clue who going to vote for. It's just again, what you were saying, it's much of a muchness, I don't how I'm going to choose, who I might pick. So yeah.

Moderator 1: Again, we've heard a lot. Thanks for that. Sophie, how about you?

Sophie: A lot of the same stuff. In Ladywood Shabana Mahmood is going to get back in, and she slightly annoys me because I get the emails, the ‘They Work for You’ ones, and she never does anything or says anything. And I must have signed up for the one where I used to live in Manchester, and he doesn't talk about anything interesting but he talks a lot and he does things. But she never seems to do anything interesting, so I don't know. It's like she's going to get in but the whole system where we pretend like we're all voting for a party leader but we're all not voting for a party leader, we're all voting in our many

Birmingham Pre FG

individual elections. That's what the system… I don't know, it's a weird thing to be engaged with.

Jessica: You can almost believe in some of your area but then not on that overall people in power.

Sophie: This is the thing. Like at home it's Lib Dem, and because I come from quite a small village, he lives in the village, I know him, he seems like a lovely guy, but would I now vote for the party is a totally different thing.

Moderator 1: Vince, you've been nodding a lot.

Vince: Well, my mum used to live next door to the Labour candidate for our area. I'm not voting there, I'm going to vote in Selly. But she's always voted for him since he came. She was a Tory party member but she voted because she wants his brand. But now our constituency has moved she doesn't really know where to align herself, because she's always just voted out of habit, habitually, for *** but now she can't and she doesn't really know what to do. But in terms of what I've received generally, so my constituency is South Ribble at home, and that's only Conservative and Labour. The Lib Dems just haven't said anything, Greens have no chance and UKIP are on the hunt but they haven't said anything to work, particularly. In Selly Oak I received one for all of them, so all the main parties, and the quality is, as these two were saying, Labour had to fold it out, it was bulky and it was quite thick. The paper itself was thick, it didn't feel like it was cheap. But the Greens’ one was quite flimsy and so was the UKIP one. I think because it was quite a Labour safe seat, even though it says it's marginal, it's not really that they just haven't tried as hard to get people to vote for them. But I think it's interesting, because it's quite a high student population there is a lot of... This is the sort of seat I think that could change hands without people really realising, because if you get a sudden influx of students who are Lib Dems it can change people's allegiances. But I don't think they've really invested as much as they could. The smaller parties, in particular, Lib Dem, UKIP and Greens, they could get support behind them. As for him going to vote for, I'm probably going to vote Liberals because of my main priority being to stay in the EU, and also I can see myself voting Labour, and then I feel voting Conservative in this area wouldn't really make much sense and that brings me back to the Liberal Democrats.

Birmingham Pre FG

Moderator 1: Thanks for that.

Sanjay: My constituency is Selly Oak, and we've had leaflets from Conservative, Lib Dems and Labour; I haven't seen any Greens or UKIP. The same as obviously the rest have said, you look at the Conservatives, it's glossy and comes across as quite... Just by looking at the leaflet you can see that they've got power in their hand and the money to spend. Labour, as I said, and as you said as well, it's cheap paper. If you look photocopies, it's quite blurry, some of the pictures. Is a lot of information on that leaflet; you've got an A4 piece of paper which is completely filled up. The Lib Dems as well, is marketing itself but again, comparing it with the three parties, the Conservatives are marketing themselves much, much better. In terms of me voting, I'm a bit on the fence. I'm a teacher by profession, and I just watched the debate about education and we've seen how young people are talking in a different way, and the other problem that I'm having as well is that the local politicians and the local MPs are saying something different than if you look at the nationals. So it's something that I'm not really sure about yet.

Moderator 1: Yeah. So again, that vote becomes really complicated. Hi Whitney.

Whitney: Hello, I'm sorry to be late.

Moderator 1: That's okay. So what we've been doing is just discussing the impressions of the campaign so far, and people have been talking about what their experiences are in terms of the local campaigns and what they've got through the door, their impressions of what's come through the door and their impressions of the campaign in their area, and then a little bit about how they perceive things on the national level and that. So I know it's kind of 'boom' but would you be ready to answer that?

Whitney: I have had a surprising amount of UKIP stuff through the door, which makes me think I'm living in a dodgy area.

Moderator 1: Which constituency are you in?

Whitney: I live in Selly Oak. But aside from that, I haven't had an awful lot. It seems to be Tory and UKIP but I also feel that it's a bit of a disconnect between what comes through the door and what you Google at the local

Birmingham Pre FG

compared to the national level. It's hard to make the local level decisions in a general election and I tend to pay more attention to the debates and what their party leaders are saying.

Moderator 1: I think other people before you had said too that it's very difficult to know how to place your vote. Are you voting for a local candidate, are you voting for the National party? A general election vote is very complicated.

Whitney: It's very complicated, yeah. I've also seen stuff about vote switching recently, which I think is a Labour Green thing.

Moderator 1: Is this the website where you can partner with somebody?

Whitney: Yeah, but I haven't thought I go for it but I'm still undecided as to who to vote for. I'm naturally a Labour voter with some Lib Dem tendencies, but I think it is such a big election, I think it will be quite a last-minute decision and see how things are going and see if you can use your vote to make a difference. So many votes just seem like they're dead. They're not going to make a difference within that constituency at all so you just feel like you're...

Moderator 1: How do you react? Do you put it to make a difference?

Whitney: Yeah.

MEDIA CONSUMPTIONModerator 1: So just to get a sense of how you guys are following or interacting with information about the campaign. I'm going to ask you to do a show of hands on whether or not this applies to you, and I'm going to start with digital communications and then moved old-fashioned analogue newspapers and radio and TV. But just by a show of hands how many of you get exposed to or see campaign information on the Internet news sites? [All participants raised their hands]

And do any of you go to Internet news sites to look for information? [All participants raised their hands except Jessica]

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Can you go through really quick what you use?

Whitney: The Guardian.

Sanjay: I look at BBC News but I also Guardian and Daily Telegraph.

Moderator 1: And Whitney , you go to the BBC?

Whitney: Yeah, BBC as well.

Vince: Yeah BBC is my first port of call. If I see something on Facebook then I might link to that and then I would look around what's on there. That's generally how it works.

Moderator 1: Anyone else for online newspapers?

Sophie: Yes, the Guardian, as well as Independent.

Charles: The Guardian

Sophie: The Independent, sometimes.

Peggy: Yeah I was going to say sometimes as well.

Jessica: I tend to just go through the links from social media sites

Sophie: Sites like Buzzfeed (laughter).

Vince: ****

Moderator 1: Charles?

Charles: I'm the same, but also Guardian and New Statesman.

Moderator 1: And how many of you use your Facebook links to get information? [All raise their hands] Everybody.

Twitter? [Sanjay, Vince, Peggy and Charles raise their hands]

I think that's all the digital stuff that there is. Then in terms of old-fashioned stuff, does anybody hear stuff on the radio news-wise in terms of the election? I know they're old-fashioned, but if you're driving or something. [Whitney raises her hand] So Whitney , just the one.

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What about news, like television shows, Newsnight or things like that? Some of you. Do you ever watch that online or mostly on the channel? [Whitney, Sanjay, Peggy and Jessica raise their hands]

Jessica: I watch it on Catch-up, normally.

Vince: I watch Question Time, I don't normally watch it when it's on, I watch it later.

Sophie: BBC Newsnight

Moderator 1: Charles, did you have something?

Charles: I would say I wouldn't watch programmes but I would often watch excerpts. But if someone's post is an interview with Ed Miliband, or whatever, that week, I'd watch it then but I wouldn't watch the programme.

Moderator 1: And how about newspapers, either free newspapers or ones that you actually pay for? Do people use physical newspapers? [Sanjay, Vince and Peggy raise their hands] Not so much, more digital.

Vince: Might not, like, I get the Economist.

Moderator 1: We're potentially seeing it move more and more towards digital information-reliant. So we didn't really explain, but we're going to go back-and-forth on the questions because there's two of us and it's a little less work, and if at any time you want some orange juice or muffins, if you don't eat then we have to! So please if you're not talking, feel free to go help yourself.

PARTY LEADER HANDOUT Moderator 2: So the second thing, and some of this is already coming out in the discussions that you've already had, we've also collated a sheet with the party leaders on them and what we want you to do is actually give your first impressions of the party leaders. So don't over think it. So, for example, if I were to say Stephen Fry...

Jessica: Does it have to be nice?

Birmingham Pre FG

Moderator 2: No, it has to be your first impression. So if you were to say Stephen Fry, the first impression that comes to me is Blackadder or National Treasure. If I were to say Jeremy Paxman what are the things that come to your mind?

Peggy: Scary. (Laughter)

Moderator 2: It's that way, you're not over-thinking it. So just your first impressions of the party leaders, and also we would like you to mark it as positive, negative or neutral. So the impression that you have, if it's positive put an up arrow, if it's negative put a down arrow, and if it's neutral put an asterisk. We will give you a few minutes to do this and then we'll come back and see what you have.

Moderator 1: And a couple of words, not just one, but if you have three or four, if you want to go on and on about one person. It's also okay not to have an opinion about somebody. The last time before Nick Clegg was big people just wrote "who?" We don't think we'll have that anymore.

Moderator 2: Okay, let's start with impressions of the leaders, and we go through each of them in turn. So let's start with David Cameron because he is the Prime Minister. Any positives for David Cameron?

Charles: He was the Prime Minister.

Moderator 2: He's still acting.

Moderator 1: We'll go positive, neutral and negative for each person.

Moderator 2: So positives for David Cameron.

Vince: You can't deny the economic success that Britain has had under his leadership in terms of pure numbers.

Jessica: You can, because he's worried about the numbers. I come from a research background, you can make numbers say whatever you want them to say if you put them in the right context.

Moderator 2: Let's leave that discussion for a little later, because we may come to that. But for now, just impressions. Any other positives for David Cameron?

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Sanjay: I would say he's good with words. He comes across as convincing, obviously it's something about his word as well. What I've noticed is also that he comes across as very confident and he's obviously good with his words.

Peggy: He does seem very ministerial, whether you like it or not. I suppose he does have that quality.

Moderator 1: Sophie, you would agree with that?

Sophie: Yeah, just in comparison to Ed Miliband, who often comes across quite flustered, and I don't think David Cameron gets that. So I think he's more polished.

Vince: He looks calm and cool, but not cool in like... Cool in just like assured in his own job, I guess.

Moderator 2: Any other positives? What about neutrals for David Cameron?

Charles: I've put down, it sounds a bit vague, but 'cipher', and what I mean by that is I don't really, even though he's been Prime Minister for all this time I don't really have a strong sense of what he believes, and he always seems to be fairly opportunistic. So sometimes he's quite socially liberal with gay marriage and stuff and then sometimes he's very much part of the establishment, and because of that I don't really have a strong sense of who he is, despite the fact that I probably ought to after all this time.

Whitney: I've put 'brilliant politician', which I marked as a negative but I suppose it can be a neutral. But it is the idea that it's his own career maybe that's more important. He does appear as a passionate soul bonding with particular issues. It is about remaining in power, and I feel like he's a bit *** because of that

Sophie: I think is quite a lot of politics... Ideology isn't really very strong any more like it might have been 15, 20 years ago.

Vince: Yeah, like there’s a convergence of parties in general.

Charles: What's very interesting is the way that someone who's senior, quite a few of them actually, it either seems to be a real backlash against that

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this time that there's never been before. So we suddenly have all these other parties. Last time no one really knew, wouldn't recognise Nick Clegg in a line-up until right before the election, and it really was just two parties and that's it, and I'm getting this real strong sense now that there's lots of people, there's young people voting Green and there just seems to be so much... and suddenly that kind of idea of a convergence has suddenly reached the point where people are no longer prepared to tolerate it. They've converged too much or something and all these other parties are coming in. So it's been interesting. I think this time round is so much different from all the others.

Moderator 2: Thank you for that. We will again come back what you think about your vote and hopefully these discussions will come out in that. But let's try to get through the rest of the party leaders, because there's six of them. But thank you very much; that was very helpful. Negatives for David Cameron.

Sophie: Really smug.

Vince: I put 'smug.' (Laughter)

Sanjay: I said as well that he changes his mind. I don't think it's sometimes his own opinions that he reflects, because he'll listen to something and want to do something but the next day he'll change his ways of talking and his way of thinking. So that's a negative, it shows that he is not really a good leader in terms of putting his foot down and saying this is how I want to do it.

Moderator 2: Thank you. Any other negatives?

Whitney: 'Toff'

Jessica: I've got that.

Moderator 2: ‘Tough’?

Moderator 1: Toff. Double ff ‘toff’.

Whitney: ‘Posh’. (Several agree)

Jessica: And ‘Eton’, that's the first thing that comes to my mind.

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Vince: I have an issue with this Eton thing. Surely it's a good thing that they're that well educated. Ed Miliband went to Eton as well, or a similar school.

Sophie: I know, they're all as posh as one another.

Vince: No, but I just feel everyone hates on David Cameron more because he's a 'toff.' But they're all toffs.

Jessica: No, I don't like any of them. (Laughter)

Vince: Ok. That's fine.

Whitney: I was at a comedian recently who said 'why don't we just have the graduating class of Eton just take over as a new class comes up and they each have a turn taking over the country?'

Moderator 2: Thank you. Positives for Ed Miliband?

Whitney: ‘Well meaning’.

Vince: Provided social media highlights. (laughter) He's ‘entertaining’, I guess, but politically wise that's not necessarily good. I think more of a neutral.

Jessica: I've got –****- as negative, which is kind of a positive really.

Vince: It's negative for the country but it's positive for my enjoyment of election coverage.

Sophie: I feel like he’s probably quite clever, he's just not very good at showing it.

Moderator 2: Peggy?

Peggy: I put 'unpolished' but depending on how you… It's either a positive or a negative, because I quite like the fact that he is not all showy. But obviously depends on your view.

Moderator 2: Charles, you are nodding.

Charles: It's similar to her, I wrote ‘awkward’ and I wasn't sure which one to put it in so I put it in as a neutral. In contrast to whatever was said about how polished David Cameron is, he is quite nice and sometimes awkward. But

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in terms of positive, I put down 'passionate and honest,' which I think actually feed into that awkwardness, because sometimes it does seem like he's passionate rather than articulate.

Moderator 2: Thank you. Any other positives?

Sanjay: We've had chats in school with some of the other teachers and they're saying that sometimes they look at Gordon Brown and kind of compare him and they feel sometimes he is very like a junior Gordon Brown because of the way he acts. I don't know if that's positive or negative.

Vince: That's a negative but...

Moderator 2: Okay, thank you. Neutrals for Ed Miliband? Some of you already mentioned some. Whitney ?

Whitney: ‘Awkward’. I don't know whether it's good or bad; it could be kind of both.

Sophie: Yeah, I sort of wish awkward was less negative than it comes up. We were saying about the whole ideology is less important these days, media polishedness is more important, and that's not what I think we should want out of our...

Whitney: Yeah, I don't care what tie you wear.

Sophie: Or how well you come across on general Newsnight.

Sanjay: I've written a neutral here; I don't know if it fits in. I think he is well educated but maybe because he's not used to talking in public like Cameron is he comes across as insecure and flustered.

Moderator 2: Any other neutrals for Ed Miliband?

Whitney: I've put I'd have voted for his brother.

Jessica: I've got 'the worst brother' as a negative.

Vince: If we're going to move onto negatives, he just isn't the best leader for the Labour Party.

Moderator 2: Negatives for Ed Miliband then?

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Whitney: 'Bad public speaker/not a statesman' I've put. I just find it hard to picture him on stage with Putin and Obama.

Moderator 2: There's some nodding going on.

Vince: I couldn't be happy with my nation with him having peace talks with...

Sophie: I'm not thrilled with my nation with David Cameron doing it. (Laughter)

Vince: I've put 'unbearable.' He makes me cringeworthy. It's a bit awkward and I think it's just too much.

Moderator 2: Peggy?

Peggy: I suppose when you're watching a live press conference you do like, "please don't mess up." You sort of cringe, "oh please don't..."

Sophie: I actually like him but when you see and talk you're just like ooooh...

Peggy: Like we were saying about David Cameron earlier, about him being ministerial, I just don't get that vibe from him. I may like him but can I see him as Prime Minister? Not really.

Moderator 2: Charles?

Charles: I haven't got any negatives down but I think in relation to that point, I certainly agree with that, but I seem to remember thinking that about David Cameron and I wonder to what extent being in office actually confers that level of authority almost by osmosis. I mean, he effectively lost the election last time, which was an open goal really, and I think the reason then was a lot of people didn't see it that way. But now –****-.

Moderator 2: Any other negatives for Ed Miliband? Okay, and then moving on. Nick Clegg, any positives for Nick Clegg?

Vince: I actually kinda like Nick Clegg. I put 'quite a charmer.' And he's naturally funny. Has anyone watched The Last Leg a couple of days ago? He is

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hilarious and he was funnier than all the comedians *on there*. And I think he's just more likeable than Miliband and Cameron.

Peggy: Friendly.

Moderator 2: Any other positives? Okay, neutrals?

Whitney: ‘Young’. I don't know if he's the same age as everybody else but he seems...

Sophie: Last time we seen a lot of very bland guys, all of a similar age, all of similar families.

Whitney: All with grey suits from posh families. But he seemed young compared to them.

Sophie: Yeah, he does seem quite young actually.

Whitney: He seems fun.

Vince: I feel like I could have a drink with Nick Clegg more than the other two.

Whitney: Definitely.

Moderator 2: Any other neutrals?

Charles: I put down 'bland' only because I think if you imagine a TV programme where you had a stereotypical 21st-century politician it would be Nick Clegg, the sort of vague shape but nothing sort of substantial. So that's the feeling.

Moderator 2: Thank you. Negatives for Nick Clegg.

Sanjay: I've put down 'Cameron's puppy.'

Sophie: I put 'spineless.'

Whitney: 'Sidelined.'

Sophie: ‘Hypocrite’ as well.

Sanjay: How much power has he got as a minister?

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Vince: How much could he do, yeah

MR: He's got 15 Lib Dem MPs he doesn't have veto power over a coalition vote.

Moderator 2: Any other negatives? Jessica?

Jessica: I think the problem is...

MR: That's exactly what they've got.

Sophie: They just don't have a majority. Without Lib Dems they can't…

Moderator 2: Negatives for Nick Clegg.

Jessica: I've just got 'liar and untrustworthy.'

Moderator 2: Charles, you've got something to say about negatives?

Charles: I've got 'irrelevant,' which ties in with the ones before. He's been sidelined to such a state now where he needs to compromise, but he's been left behind by the tide of all the new parties coming on.

Moderator 2: Thank you very much. So moving on to the other party leaders, Nicola Sturgeon, positives for her.

Peggy: Passionate; definitely passionate.

Jessica: Makes me want to be Scottish! If I could vote for anyone, I would probably vote for her. But unfortunately…

Sophie: She totally changed my opinion of the SNP. I used to be like… Well, I didn't really think about it that much because I'm not Scottish but when it was Alex Salmond I was not keen, but I genuinely like her.

Moderator 2: Any other positives?

Whitney: She encourages my feminist aspirations, so I like her. I just think she's... yeah.

Sophie: You written "the impact, your impression of this man" at the top... (Laughter)

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Moderator 2: Sorry, apologies.

Moderator 1: We've repurposed this from last year, from 2010, and there were no women on the sheet in 2010; they were all men. Thank you, we'll change that for the future. Thank you for catching us out; we're obliged.

Moderator 2: Any other positives for Nicola? Neutrals?

Whitney: Scottish (laughter). I put Scottish as a neutral.

FR: It's very Scottish, it's a real thing but I don't know if it's a positive thing.

Moderator 2: Negatives?

Vince: I've got ‘toxic, trouble, vindictive, I can't stand her.'

Charles: I put 'kingmaker.' She is getting more attention and will get more attention than she potentially deserves with the election.

Moderator 2: Moving on then to Leanne Woods. Positives for Leanne Wood?

Whitney: Is she the Plaid Cymru girl?

Moderator 2: Yes.

Vince: She seems very nice.

Sophie: Yeah, I put 'nice.'

Vince: That's all I can really say.

Sophie: I haven't watched the debates; I know nothing about her!

Whitney: I've seen the debates and she didn't sound that great.

Vince: I don't think she's a career politician as much as any of the other six.

Sanjay: I had 'nice' as well, because when I looked at the debate she was kind of someone in the background –****

Moderator 2: Neutrals for her?

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Jessica: I put 'irrelevant' because she only ever really talks about things for Wales and that doesn't mean anything to me.

Moderator 1: People in Wales said that too!

Vince: Plaid and SNP, people try to compare them but they have very little... SNP might win every single Scottish seat, Plaid might win three. They are not even the biggest party in Wales. It's very difficult to see her as on the same level with everyone else.

Moderator 2: Negatives for Leanne Wood.

Vince: That was my negative.

Moderator 2: Natalie Bennett, positives for Natalie Bennett.

Vince: Passionate, I guess. She really cares about the environment, which is a thing we should...

Charles: Well-meaning, she obviously believes it.

Moderator 2: Neutrals? Negatives?

Sanjay: I feel that she's a bit too optimistic. For me, the party is quite optimistic. You know like they say money grows on trees? I think the Green party believes in that.

Vince: Substandard to previous leaders. Caroline Lucas is much more suited. And she's not British. I don't know how people feel about that. It doesn't really bother me but that would definitely be a whole negative across the country. I think people don't realise that she's not British as well.

Sophie: I was very surprised when she started talking

Whitney: But she's naturalised.

Vince: She's naturalised, yeah. Obviously she is eligible to be an MP. She is British Australian I think.

Charles: But she's not standing as an MP

Vince: Is she not? Is that allowed?

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Charles: Neither is Nicola Sturgeon.

Moderator 1: They're just party leaders.

Vince: I don't know enough about the actual bulletin thing. So what happens if the SNP get into a coalition?

Moderator 2: It will be SNP MPs. She's not an MP so she can't be Deputy Prime Minister.

Vince: That's changed everything. (Laughter)

Charles: I want to add one where I have a negative.

Moderator 2: For Natalie Bennett

Charles: It was ‘naïve’. It reminds me of debates I went to in the early 90s and in the 80s when people would just stand up and said 'all we need to do is just change everything and it'll be great.' They've got a policy which is, I can't remember what it is but I remember reading it would be implemented once, the global catalyst would have entirely transformed itself, which we may just be in our second term rather than a first. I just thought it was childish almost.

Jessica: I always thought that she was a poor public speaker. She seems to lack confidence, she doesn't have anything about her.

Moderator 2: Thank you. Positives for Nigel Farage.

Vince: He's a good talker

Sanjay: He's got some valid points. If you look at the way things are going I think he's got so many points, to be honest.

Jessica: He backs them up with the wrong facts. He'll make a valid point and then go "because of immigration" and then you go... [covers her eyes with her hands]

MR: Most people are like with UKIP *with the emotional thing*. If you look at other policies they aren't particularly bad. I mean, that's not necessarily Farage that made them up himself but as a whole UKIP party that's a ****

Moderator 2: Neutrals? Negatives?

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Vince: Fraudulent, because he just lies about statistics that just aren't true.

Jessica: Racist, a joke and beer, those are the three things that come to mind.

Vince: Hypocritical, his German wife is employed as his secretary, a British job could have had that.

Jessica: I don't think he's necessarily racist. It's just the first thing that comes to mind.

Vince: I don't think he is racist particularly, I think he's just...

Sanjay: He's jumped on the immigration bandwagon...

Vince: Yeah, it's like a gap.

Sophie: He's probably like cleverer and less racist than the majority of his party but he plays to the racist, most junior part of his party

Whitney: Which makes you look worse person. You pander to the racists but when you've got intelligence to know that they're wrong, that makes you very bad.

Moderator 2: Peggy?

Peggy: He's very smug, very smug, and he's playing on people's fears, which is awful.

Vince: That's politics.

Sanjay: You look at the polls and he's something between 13% to 17% ****

Sophie: But is that going to translate into seats?

Jessica: I think it's just the new BNP, isn't it, because this happened last time with the BMP and now we've just swapped them for you UKIP.

Vince: BNP failed. It's like they've ended eight candidates, which is 300 and something less last time.

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TRAPPED IN A LIFTModerator 1: A quick question. If you had to be trapped in an elevator with one of these people on the sheets, who would you choose to be trapped in an elevator with?

Vince: How long for?

Moderator 1: Two hours. Firstly, who would you want to be trapped with?

Whitney: Depends if you’ve got an *iron bar*

Jessica: Is there a camera in this lift?

Sanjay: After listening to Vince, I would say Nick Clegg, because at least I'm going to be entertained for those two hours.

Jessica: I'd go Nick Clegg too

Vince: I really like the Welsh accent so I would like to… In all honesty, Nick Clegg would be... Yeah, Nick Clegg.

Sophie: Nicola Sturgeon

Whitney: Yeah, Clegg or Nicola Sturgeon.

Peggy: I'd say Nicola.

Charles: I'd say Ed Miliband

Moderator 1: Who would you not want to be trapped in the lift with for two hours?

Whitney: Cameron

Charles: Farage!

Vince: Sturgeon

Sanjay: I'm not sure, either Cameron and Farage.

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PARTY CONSIDER VOTING FOR HANDOUT Moderator 1: So another handout that we've given you is looking at parties you would ever consider voting for. Just to explain this a little bit, this might be at the council level or the Westminster level, because you don't have an assembly here. So either in the past or in this election we're asking which of these parties could you see yourselves voting for, which of them would you never vote for?

FR: So if we voted for them in the past we have to put them on the yes even though we wouldn't in the future?

Moderator 1: If you would still consider voting for them, and you voted for them in the past but you've moved on now. So it's basically where you are today. Who could you see yourself voting for?

Moderator 2: If you haven't already done this we'll give you a minute. I think Whitney didn't have the chance to do it. Or if you want to change what you've done. So let's start with the most parties. So there are seven parties on the sheet, by a show of hands has anybody marked 'I could see myself voting for all seven parties? No. Six parties?? Five? Sophie, which five have you chosen?

Sophie: Could you see yourself voting for it would depend on where I lived, but everybody but Tories or UKIP.

Moderator 2: Do you want to explain why not Tories and UKIP?

Sophie: Well, I wouldn't vote UKIP and I can’t see myself voting Tory. I've heard people saying 'when you get older you'll start voting Tory.' It's like 'must I?' Is it an inevitability? I don't want to. Just because I'm concerned for them and saying I could see myself voting for them isn't necessarily a hugely ideological thing, and there is always a little bit of tactical voting, depending on what constituency you're in.

Moderator 2: So the ones that you have decided, why would you consider voting for them?

Sophie: It's different, depending on the party. The nationalist ones, I've never lived in Wales or Scotland so I'm probably never going to vote for them,

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even if I wanted to. Actually I might change my mind… I don't know enough about them. I think I just circled them because I haven't heard anything terrible about them; I don't think I've heard anything at all about them, really.

Vince: If you lived in Wales you'd probably have considered it more. I put no because I don't live in Wales but if I lived in Wales I'd probably read what they were saying and I would consider voting for them.

Sophie: I didn't consider whether I would do it; I don't know.

Moderator 1: How about four parties? Whitney, what ones do you have that you would consider voting for?

Whitney: I could vote for the Tories, the Greens, Labour or Lib Dem.

Moderator 1: What makes them possibilities?

Whitney: I voted Lib Dem, Labour and Greens before and I think what I pondered about was the Tories, who I haven't voted for. As I'm getting older and I'm concerned about the interest rates, I might have a personal mortgage and become more evil as I age, which apparently happens, my mum has told me. I could vote Tory if needs were quite different. So it's a big if, really.

Moderator 1: But it's a possibility?

Whitney: I'd consider it for the economy.

Moderator 1: And the ones that you listed that you couldn't vote for?

Whitney: Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National party are fairly irrelevant to me and I would burn UKIP to the ground.

Sanjay: I have the same four parties, Conservatives, Green, Labour and Liberal. Welsh and Scottish, again because I'm not living there so it's not something I have looked into. UKIP, I don't know… Do I have to say much? (Laughter) But the other four, you look at their manifestos and they've all got so many points, so they know what they're talking about so that's why I put them four down.

Vince: So the same four again, the same reasons for the other three really. Plaid and Scottish nationals, I'm not Scottish or Welsh. Even if I moved

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there I probably wouldn't have that much nationalism so I don't know why would. UKIP, they're just UKIP, so just no. I voted Liberal in council elections. They want to stay in the EU, that's fine for me. Greens, I kind of like the environment, it's nice. My only issue with the Greens is the nuclear thing but I can deal with the Green party if they were in a coalition. I define myself as a Tory. The other one I doubted was Labour but I probably wouldn't vote for them in a tactical manner to stop the UKIP party, potentially. Or if they had a different leader, if Ed Ball was in the chair I'd be more willing, but Ed Miliband I just can't deal with.

Moderator 1: Three parties? Peggy and Charles.

Peggy: I put Green, Labour and Liberal. The Conservative party, I might vote for them in the future but now they don't really offer much for me, if I'm being honest. Plaid Cymru the Scottish Nationalist party, I don't live there so it's irrelevant. And then UKIP, which everyone else has said, I can't stand them. I think if they ever get in we're doomed. The Green party, I think the environment is really important, so yeah, anything like that.

Moderator 1: And on Labour and Liberal Democrats?

Peggy: Liberal democrats, I voted Liberals last time and I don't know if I'm going to vote for them again, but maybe in the future. Labour, the same thing really. I probably can see myself voting for them.

Charles: I'm not sure I did it right, because I put in Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National party. My family are all Scottish so I've been exposed to it quite a lot. I've always thought of them as being quite a natural party for me. Plaid Cymru, again they're sort of left of centre, and the Labour Party but none of the others.

Moderator 1: So the ones that you have are the two national parties and Labour, is that right?

Charles: That's right.

Moderator 1: But none of the other ones?

Charles: None of the other ones. I have in the past voted Lib Dem and I have in the past voted Green but in the current leadership of the Green party,

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particularly around foreign policy and economic policy, I wouldn't dream of it. And the Liberal Democrats, for the reason I've said before; at the moment it just feels like we were so let down last time and I still feel quite raw from that.

Moderator 1: So we're down to two parties.

Jessica: So I was umm-ing and aah-ing whether to put Libs as a yes or no so I went no in the end, and that's for exactly the same reason, I voted for them last time but I probably wouldn't this time because I'm annoyed and I'm bitter and I'm twisted, essentially. I said no to Scottish and Wales because I don't live there so I don't see it as relevant. I wouldn't vote UKIP for the same reason. I had negative words for Nigel Farage. And I would never vote Conservative because I grew up in a family where we didn't have much money so I associate Tories with being people with lots of money that have lots of things, such as tax loopholes and such for their business friends and I don't see them being relevant to me in my life and my family. So then I left the Greens and Labour as yes just because they were the only two left after eliminating the others.

Moderator 1: Thank you; that was very insightful.

VOTE CHOICE CONSIDERATIONS Moderator 2: So the next question we have for you is actually coming down to the election. So on May 7 what considerations might go into your vote. So in the past people have spoken about policies, and some of you have already done that, you've spoken about party policies. Some people have said about a candidate, a local candidate maybe who is doing a good job, or some people tend to support a particular party. So what considerations are going into your vote on May 7 election? Should we start with Whitney?

Whitney: My main consideration would be tactics more than anything, so you kind of know which way I swing. But I would give up my vote keep out Tories, at the moment, and UKIP. So I know who I support and I will use my vote in the best way to support those people. So tactics for me.

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Sanjay: One of the strong points, I'm a teacher, is the education point. Conscious of …… terms of education. So that's obviously a very strong point for me in terms of what party to vote. But at the moment everyone is giving some nice talks and nearer to the time I think I'm probably going to look at the bigger picture.

Moderator 2: When you say you're going to look at the bigger picture, is it just the education policy or is it something else?

Sanjay: Education, economy and obviously EU as well, because originally I'm actually from Austria so being in the European Union is quite a big thing for me.

Vince: I will be voting tactfully as well probably. I know which coalition I want and I'm going to vote the best way to try to get that to happen.

Moderator 2: And what's the coalition you want?

Vince: I want Con-Dems to continue so I'm probably going to vote Liberals because they have more chance here, than the Tories, based on. Basically, I've decided why I want that coalition based on leadership more than local issues, because I'm in the position where I'm not really settled yet, I haven't really got the local area where I know I'm going to be so that doesn't really apply, I don't feel like it applies to me that much. So yeah, I'll vote tactically based on leadership because I like what they do.

Moderator 1: Sophie?

Sophie: Because it's such a Labour stronghold in my area there isn't really any point going into it because you sort of ... I'll probably vote Labour because, as I've said, I've heard nothing from anyone else. Yeah, there's not a huge amount of tactical voting that goes into my particular area.

Moderator 2: Are you paying attention to any particular things in the campaign that makes you go 'oh yeah, I need to...' 'That might work', or 'that's important to me.'

Sophie: There is a lot of negative campaigning around. I hear policies I don't agree with but off the top of my head I'm not hearing a huge amount of policies that I go 'yes, that would be…' Partly because even when you do hear

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those you sort of slightly believe them, because, you know, they can say anything on the campaign trials.

Moderator 2: Peggy?

Peggy: For me, two areas that are quite important are NHS and the EU. As for my constituency, as I said before, even though it's a marginal seat, Labour seem to have the stronghold. But my MP has done a lot to try and keep a walk-in centre open and he seems to be quite successful at his campaign for that. So I think that will probably aid my decision but I'm still unsure who I'm going to vote for.

Moderator 1: Jessica?

Jessica: To be honest, I don't think it really matters who I vote for with the "first past the post" because it's going to be Labour, it doesn't matter who I vote for. I'm probably going to vote Greens simply because I'm so fed up with all of the major parties. They're pretty much exactly the same. They have slightly different policies but it all comes down to the same thing. I do research for a living and it really annoys me that they have all these policies but they don't actually go and ask people from research backgrounds anything to help inform their policies. It's like they kind of pick things out of a hat and go 'oh, I think that would be good for the country. Let's put that down.' And that really irritates me.

Moderator 2: Charles?

Charles: I'll vote on the national issues but the most important issues for me are economy and equality, and I can't see myself ever voting Conservative on both those measures. Locally, it's quite interesting because, as I say, I'm actually a marginal seat so I actually think my vote is going to count. Somebody sent me something the other day, which is a link to a website where you can put in your postcode and it tells you how much your vote actually is worth as a proportion of a vote and my vote apparently is worth 0.8 of a vote, which apparently is very high, because in Labour it's probably worth about .001. So I feel that sort of joker power, you may say, and I've met them both personally and tried to assess them personally and it's combination of the local and

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national. I feel quite comfortable that I know who I'm going to vote for and I'm quite pleased with my choice.

DEBATES Moderator 1: Thank you. So we are going to turn our attention a little bit and think about the debates, and it doesn't matter if you've watched the debates or not, you've probably seen some of the coverage of them. We're not going to ask you particulars about the debates but more about the ideas of having debates, because this is the second time now that there have been televised debates, and you guys remember probably when they didn't have televised debates. So we want to ask about, because this time it was quite a contentious topic and getting it all sorted out and they did manage to finally get a series of televised things. But can we just have a discussion on whether people think debates are a good thing in general, debates as part of a campaign. As part of the campaign, are they a good thing? And then do you think they should be part of every general election or should they be gotten rid of? So the first part is: do you think debates are a good thing, in general?

Jessica: Yes. I was going to say, I've seen a lot of coverage where in some areas of the country they have had debates with the local leaders in the pubs where you can go talk to them. Why don't more places actually do that, because you get so many more people actually involved in politics as well? You get all the people that just happened to go to the pub that day as well.

Sophie: I agree with you there, but I went to the parliamentary hustings for Edgbaston, which even though I don't live there, I was invited along, and I think televised debates, no, but hustings like that, yes, because I actually really enjoyed. It was a really good atmosphere in the room, people were talking, there was lots of different points of view, whereas on television it gets very polarised, you want the headline and so they don't really end up talking about the issues and everyone's quite angry with each other, whereas parliamentary hustings was much more... constructive, I suppose, is the word.

Sanjay: I would agree. I think with the local debates, it's quite good because you get involved and you listen to other people's opinions. Televised debates, I think it's more a marketing or sales gag where they obviously try to

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show themselves. If you compare the last general election, the Lib Dems especially, how they marketed themselves, and then there was this complete let down of what actually happened. So I don't really believe in those debates being televised because they just market themselves and just try to sell themselves.

Jessica: I think, although they are marketing themselves, I still think it's important because I want to see how they react when they get asked these questions, I want to know how they function under pressure and what they're going to say.

Vince: I would disagree, I don't disagree with the idea of it, I just don't think it's... So in local level hustings you're not engaging with the majority of the locals. The people who go are the ones who are already probably interested. I don't believe that people who aren't interested in the election general are going to go along, and the idea of the televised ones, if they try and force it on people... We shouldn't be forcing it on people, people should want to vote, but if they watch and they just hear a snippet they might get interested and then they might think 'oh I'll register to vote' or 'I'll go and vote.'

Whitney: I agree with that. In an incredibly patronising way I sort of feel like I'm less interested in the televised debates because it's just a lot of shouty men with red faces and it's all very headliney and everybody's after a soundbite. But there are people on my Facebook timeline who never post about politics and they all are when there is a debate on. So I feel like it brings it to the common man, and I know that makes me sound like I'm distinguishing myself from that, which I'm not, but I do feel everybody watches it and it does make people think and talk about politics more. At the same time, I love the idea of local level town hall hustings.

Vince: I like the idea of local level because I'm involved but I don't think it works in terms of getting more people to vote and getting more people interested in the vote. But I would go to one.

Jessica: I think when they do it in the pub it does though, because people go 'oh I can have a pint while I listen to them.' That gets people like my dad involved, who doesn't normally want anything to do with that, because they do

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it in his local pub, on his ground, on his terms almost, bringing it to him rather than making him go to it.

Vince: Yeah, I can see the idea of that working.

Moderator 2: Charles and Peggy, you were nodding at various points. I was wondering what you were thinking.

Charles: I was agreeing with lots of the points. I remember in the last election, and it was a big thing, we had no idea how it was going to go, we had seen clips of America and it was all quite exciting. I remember very vividly then it seemed like it was the start of something quite important because, like I said earlier, we'd previously basically had two men and then all of a sudden we had three men and that seemed like a major change in British politics. And now we've got seven, of which some of them are women! It felt like it had ushered in a great change but I personally found I had to turn off this time. I was really disappointed because it wasn't a good debate, in my opinion, with the seven. And also, why those seven? I didn't understand the logic of why those ones had been chosen.

Moderator 2: Peggy?

Peggy: I agree with the concept of the debates. I think especially like what you were saying about 2010, I think the reaction afterwards was great, everyone was talking about politics. This time round it did still get the same level of involvement on Twitter but with the seven of them it just didn't work. It was just a lot of shouting.

Charles: Especially in some of them I couldn't vote for. I couldn't vote for the Scottish and the Welsh ones anyway even if I had wanted to. So the debate wasn't even on the same subject matter because they weren't talking about the same country.

Sanjay: I think that negativity around the debates this year was Cameron's tantrum in the very beginning when they wanted to schedule the debates. He had that tantrum where he just wanted to have a particular debate. I kind of switched off.

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Jessica: I was pleased he did that though because at least he gave people like the Green party a chance to be heard, because up until that point it was all UKIP as well but the only reason UKIP have become so popular is because the media has covered UKIP so much, whereas actually before the media started covering UKIP the Green party had more supporters because the media hasn't covered the Green party.

Moderator 1: So let me pin you down. You have the power to either eliminate debates entirely from the next general election, or not. Who here would say okay, no more televised debates in, say, 2020, just eliminate them. So you'd still want debates to go forward even though there is a lot of problems with them?

Charles: I would have said no until what Whitney said earlier. I thought that made a lot of sense about just engaging people who, and again, as Jessica was saying, just engaging people who weren't necessarily... and Vince, the same. I agree with everybody; I'm a politician!

Moderator 1: From your impressions has anyone leader benefited from the debates?

[Several say Nicola Sturgeon]

Vince: Clegg in 2010 and in 2015 I think both nationalist parties. I hadn't heard of Leanne Wood until this election. I'd heard of Sturgeon but that's because of the referendum. I think the nationalist parties did really well on the back of these debates in terms of getting known in England. But then that doesn't really matter. That’s the issue.

Moderator 1: Would others agree with that assessment?

Charles: I think it's been beneficial for Natalie Bennett as well because I think that so many people thought that Caroline Lucas was the leader prior to the debates.

Vince: And she should be!

Moderator 1: Anyone else have an impression of who has benefited from the debates?

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Sanjay: I think like Jessica said all the underdog parties because they had the media coverage. So it was of benefit to them because all of a sudden they're back in the limelight.

Moderator 1: Do you think anyone's been hurt by the debates?

Vince: Cameron when he wasn't at the five, I don't think that helped him. But, at the same time, Ed Miliband did not do that well at the debate nor did Nigel Farage. It was more about the women, they did much better.

Moderator 1: Anyone else have an impression of someone who's been hurt?

Whitney: I feel like there is a real male/female divide but I don't know if I'm wrong. But it makes me think yeah, it's nice to have women there so it's not just chatty red-faced men, but it's emphasised their shouty red-facedness and I think the women look calmer and more in control and less angry.

Moderator 1: Did anyone pick up sexism or any kind of discrimination in the debates?

Charles: This has nothing to do with sexism but the Sky News One, the woman who was the presenter

Moderator 1: The moderator.

Charles: was unbelievably biased towards David Cameron, in my opinion. I had to turn that one off because she was going, "Prime Minister, tell us again how brilliant you are." (Laughter) Ed Miliband said, you know, she said "can you tell us what's going to happen in 30 years’ time?" And he said "not really." (Laughter) I thought there was massive bias in that one.

Moderator 1: But it doesn't seem that anyone picked up in any sort of... I agree personally.

Whitney: There's no big loser, to be fair.

Vince: Politically wise, I think people are now seeing women... They can be at the forefront in politics. I mean, obviously we had Thatcher and big deputy leaders and cabinet ministers who have been women and that bringing them onto this stage in terms of having Leanne Wood and Sturgeon in that

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event there has... People realise that okay, it's not just posh men, there are real people. I think Leanne Woods, haven't researched but she looks more of a normal person and she sounds like more of a normal person and I think it's made it, not just the sexism it's also made the class change.

Moderator 1: Thank you for those reflections; we appreciate it.

VOTER REGISTRATION Moderator 2: One of the things we wanted to find out is your experience of registration, so registering to vote. If there is anybody in the room who is a first-time voter who has registered, maybe have registered somewhere else and then you moved and you had to register again. So by show of hands, has anybody used the new method of registration? Whitney, you have.

Vince: Online?

Moderator 2: Yes, the one online. And Jessica okay. Can you tell us what your experience was?

Jessica: I got a letter through the post saying you need to register online or you can't vote. So I did it, I just went to the website, typed in my details and it was dead easy.

Moderator 2: Vince?

Vince: I registered at two addresses because I didn't know where I was going to be. There was no confirmation email, this was my biggest issue. I think I registered twice to vote in Selly Oak and I still haven't received a poll card and I'm now at a point where I'm like 'have I not got one?' Should I have had one?

Sophie: Yeah, you should have. I'd call them and find out where your polling station is, because a friend of mine also didn't get a poll card, he's at Ladywood, and he's moved hundred yards down the road and he's got a different polling station now but he didn't know that until he called them. So I would call them.

Moderator 2: Whitney?

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Whitney: Well, in the last five years I've got married and divorced and moved house three times. So I'm still trying to prove that I am a real person and I'm having real problems with it. So I haven't got a polling card either that's because I certainly can't stay in constant contact going "my God, you have every single piece of paper I've ever had!" So I am not pro it but I understand that it needs to happen.

Moderator 1: So did you actually go online and do the process?

Whitney: I filled in a paper form first and then I've been sending stuff by email. I filled in a paper form first and then I got a letter back asking for things, which I then probably lost, so I re-did it online, which probably confused the system even more, and then they were emailing me.

Moderator 1: So it sounds like what the registration form online could use is a confirmation saying 'this is the stuff that you put in and this is the stuff we're going to receive.'

Vince: Now I'm doubting whether I have actually registered.

Jessica: I think I've had to do twice and the first time it didn't work and then the second time it did. But then I didn't get sent confirmation, I just went 'oh I assume it's worked.'

Vince: I've assumed it's worked but then I've seen poll cards have arrived for other people. The poll cards arrived before the deadline so I'm now not that concerned but I am going to ring them up.

Moderator 1: Any second-hand stories, someone you knew went through it?

Sophie: Yeah he literally moved 100 hundred yards down the road but his moved from B1 to B3, his voting state of change, but he didn't get a card and he didn't know until he called them to say 'I was supposed to get a card.' And they were like 'oh you don't need the card but here is your polling station.' But yeah, he didn't have any confirmation about that until he called up.

Moderator 2: Anybody know of any other stories of people who registered to vote using new system?

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Whitney: I deal with a lot of international students, they've all had letters saying they're going to have a £50 or an £80 fine if they don't register to vote, and they couldn't see ... They were like 'I'm from Pakistan!' (Laughter) So I felt like there was a bit of a scatter-*** approach to trying to get the students to vote, which I could see why they want them to register but…

Jessica: Do they really get fined if they don't register to vote?

Whitney: The overseas students don't, but you can.

Vince: Who's fining them?

Whitney: I don't know.

Vince: It's not like a fine thing, is it? It's not Australia.

Moderator 1: Are they supposed to be for not being registered, not for not voting?

Whitney: Not for not voting but for not being registered. The students get letters to say 'if you don't register to vote you'll be fined.'

Vince: Is this a scam?

Moderator 1: I lived in the UK, I don't live here anymore, I live in Germany, but I had to send a letter saying I'm non-resident, I can't vote and that's why I can't be on the electoral roll. So there is a default.

Charles: But to have to be on the electoral roll?

Moderator 1: I think you're meant to be.

Sanjay: ****

Moderator 1: That's very helpful. One of the people we're partnering with is the electoral commission, and they're really interested in feedback. So the stuff about the lack of confirmation and the wobbliness and no place that you can check where your postal vote is, they're going to want to know those kind of things, so that's really helpful; thank you for that. So here's a really hard question for you. It's May 8, you've either stayed up all night or have gone to bed and woke up, but what are your predictions for what the final result is going to be? And I'll do this by volunteering first, because it's a hard one. So if

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you had to predict the election right now what would you think the outcome was going to be?

OUTCOME PREDICTIONSModerator 2: Maybe we can have it, so what do you think the outcome is going to be and what kind of outcome would you want?

Jessica: There is going to be some sort of Tory coalition, I think, again.

Sophie: I don't think it's going to be a Labour coalition but it's going to be a messy coalition.

FR: Yes

Vince: It's going to be, basically a bit of a mess and we're going to vote again in November.

Sophie: Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if we did have another election, certainly before 2020, whether it's before the end of the year, I don't know but I reckon we'll have another one.

Moderator 1: Are you expecting a Conservative coalition?

Vince: I think it will be... The polls are predicting very, very close. I don't actually know, I'm leaning towards a Labour win in terms of pure numbers, in which case I think Labour, SNP will happen. But if Conservatives do get more seats, I think Con Dem and then probably UKIP but Lib Dems will rule it out. I don't know how the Irish parties are feeling. I know but I don't know whether government can exist in a minority.

Jessica: A lot of the parties now have very, very similar sort of policies so having a coalition isn't necessarily not going to work as long as they're not too far apart in their views, and most of the main parties now are very similar.

Whitney: They believe themselves to be different though, they believe themselves to be dramatically different, I think.

Jessica: That's kind of sad though really, when you think about it.

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Moderator 1: Anyone else willing to predict, any psephologists?

Peggy: I think it's going to be a conservative coalition but know if it will be with the Lib Dems, because I can see them being wiped out. So it needs to be whoever can get a coalition together.

Sophie: This is why it won't be a Labour coalition, just because there's more vaguely left leaning minority parties who could ally with Labour that there are vaguely right-wing ones who could ally with the Tories.

Charles: I would agree. I think the Conservatives have run out of friends. I don't think UKIP are going to get more than one seat. As you say, I think the Lib Dems will get a battering, so I think it will be Labour and SNP. I can't see any other outcome, actually.

Vince: I think it does depend on who gets the most seats. I think you can't have... I don't even think the losing party would feel comfortable having the majority government when they didn't get the most votes. I feel that's just very undemocratic in terms of you can't have... People vote David Cameron...

Sophie: Only about 30% of people voted David Cameron last time.

Moderator 1: Could anyone see a grand coalition of Labour and the Conservatives?

Sophie: For five minutes and then we'd have another election!

Moderator 1: It's like one of the other possibilities; I'm not saying it's a plausible one.

Jessica: There would be a lot of shouting if that happened, just a lot of shouting.

Vince: Also, there's not enough room in the House of Commons (laughter)

Charles: I think it's really interesting for us in this country. We are so used to a single party ruling for so long that, certainly in 2010, everyone was saying 'oh this won't last' and 'it would be really hard for us to imagine a coalition,' and obviously it has been...[overtalking with Sophie] 'Remember the Italian government and their centres were changing every 15 minutes,' and it was all

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that impression of that's what a coalition was. But obviously it's been a real success; I think people are much more open to it now.

Jessica: A lot of the local people that are running MEPs, they don't necessarily always follow exactly the same policies as the major party so it doesn't necessarily always reflect the bigger party.

Vince: I think if you look at countries like Belgium haven't had a single party government for 40 years. It's like in the – ‘cause I do international development - they're an unstable country but you don't see it like that, that's not how it works. You wouldn't object to the idea of having that. In reality you think 'well Belgium haven't done that bad...'

Charles: We had the opportunity to have the AV vote and people voted it down in the sense at the time was because people were scared of that kind of flexibility, coalition government. And I wonder if they had it now, whether people would think 'oh a coalition government is okay,' that people would be more open to proper voting system.

Moderator 1: Whitney?

Whitney: I was just going to directly contradict Charles and just say that I feel a bit like a child where I like my parents, the government, to be a strong slightly fearsome figure. But I think if I had the choice between voting for a messy Labour coalition, which would be more natural leaning even if it was all kind of liberal and left-wing, or a strong Tory government, I'd vote a strong Tory government because there's something about them beating us and the fear of having to go to an election again and losing more votes as people decide 'well, you know, I'm voting for the last five years and I don't know if we vote again' and all that kind of stuff and it gets… I don't know, I like clarity, it would make me feel like a safer person.

Sophie: A strong Tory government would scare me!

Moderator 1: Stability...

Whitney: I think it's strange, because we've had five years and it hasn't been unstable, and people talked at the time, oh we'd be at election by November again, it's and we weren't and it's been fine. But there's still something about

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the idea of a messy Labour, because I think if it is Labour it will be particularly messy. I don't know why, it just feels like it would be.

Moderator 1: That was really, really great. We're done.