As the Marginal Mystery Tour rolled into its third day, WMN London Editor Matt Chorley finds a welcome respite from apathy, and some rare enthusiasm about the Tory leader

EXCITING is not a word which has been used a great deal this week. "Disillusioned" has come up a lot, as has "immigration".

In Maisy, my mint green camper van, the occasional swear word may have been uttered at the illusive fourth gear, while "rain" is never far from my lips, or the windscreen.

But "exciting" is a new concept. While most people complain they could not be less interested in the looming election, it seems first time voters are chomping at the bit. There is a group, albeit a small one, of 18-year-olds able to go into polling booths for the first time who were not even born when John Major won the election on April 9, 1992.

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They were just five when Tony Blair swept to power, and have only known a Labour government. Thousands of others will cast their vote for the first time, in the knowledge that there could be a change in government.

A random focus group of 18-year-olds at my old stomping ground, Richard Huish College in Taunton, were clued up and desperate to have their say come polling day.

"It's exciting," said Maude Morrison, who travels to Taunton each day from North Devon. No fan of the Tories – "they are really fake" – she believes Gordon Brown has struggled because "he has never been voted to power, he has never had public support behind him".

"The Tories are blaming all this recession on him, but look at every single country in Europe," she adds. "They are all in the same boat. Whatever government would have got us into the same mess."

Tom Coles is a Liberal Democrat, following in the footsteps of his father who is a local councillor. "I come from that background. I agree with their policies and personalities, especially Vince Cable. Less so Nick Clegg."

He believes university tuition fees are ridiculous, but none of the students I spoke to were put off going to university by the inevitable personal debt and limited job prospects later on.

Mr Coles does not trust the Tories and "hates Cameron with every fibre of my being". He "wouldn't mind" seeing Labour back in power after election day.

"It's the lesser of two evils," admits Charlie Dowzell from Tiverton, who points to a "lot of sympathy for Gordon Brown – he has had a lot of bad luck".

Tom Croucher from Uffculme is undecided but will "definitely not" support Labour. "I really dislike the way they are running the country. If you don't vote, you cannot complain."

He is also the first person this week to enthuse about David Cameron. Even die-hard Tory voters have been sceptical about the party leader. "People say they don't like Cameron being posh, but I don't see that has a reason not to vote for them," said Mr Croucher. "He is a nice chap."

"No he isn't," insisted Miss Morrison. "He isn't genuine. I think everything he does just looks fake." She is particularly aggrieved that the centrally-controlled candidate list appears to have concentrated on selecting "hot girls".

Mark Coles, from Burton near Wells, is tired of mud-slinging in the constituency held by Tory David Heathcoat-Amory since 1983, and Conservative-controlled since 1924.

Mr Heathcoat-Amory made headlines when it was revealed he had claimed Commons expenses for horse manure for his garden, which the Lib-Dems are exploiting. "There is no substance though," Mr Coles bemoaned. David Cameron is a "good speaker" while Nick Clegg is "an alright bloke but I don't think he is going to get anywhere".

Interestingly, none of them thought Mr Brown would survive as Labour leader, even if he steers the party to an historic fourth term. Given the PM's stubbornness, it will be a brave Labour MP who tries to prise his fingers from the doorframe of Number 10 if he delivers a surprise victory.

In Taunton itself, a key target seat for the Tories, everyone I spoke to believes Lib-Dem MP Jeremy Browne will defy the national polls and build on his slender notional majority of 1,868.

There is no love for Tory candidate Mark Formosa – who stood unsuccessfully for the North Cornwall seat in 2005 – though he believes voters will set out on polling day to "remove Labour".

"People are pleased to see us," he told me recently. "They want rid of the Government, to see change at the top."

He is blunt about the Lib-Dems in general: "By and large they are all really nice people and they are all totally useless." But even some Tory MPs privately confess they would like to see Mr Browne back in the Commons after the election.

The sudden burst of youthful enthusiasm for democracy yesterday afternoon – no doubt fuelled by my offer of jam doughnuts – was a welcome relief after a drizzly morning on the streets of Newton Abbot. Once again, apathy and anger reigned.

And for the first time on the Marginal Mystery Tour, an MP's individual expenses were raised. Richard Younger-Ross – Lib-Dem MP for the Teignbridge seat which becomes Newton Abbot under boundary changes – has suffered a string of bad publicity.

He repaid more than £6,000 claimed on mirrors, a hi-fi and a "Don Juan" bookcase and earlier this month a report criticised him for accepting £8,000 in windfall money for his second home in Dolphin Square, London. He is paying back half.

Some of the shoppers and traders at the farmers market in Newton Abbot yesterday were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Others feared he would pay the price at the ballot box, where a 5.25 per cent swing to the Tories would secure victory for Anne Marie Morris. Mr Younger-Ross has said he hopes the electorate will judge him on his local record, but realises his fate is in the hands of voters. "I never say I'm going to win or lose. I fight every campaign as hard as I can. It's up to the public to decide."

"You cannot miss the expenses stuff," said Steve Lloyd, from Newton Abbot-based Netherwood Olives. "When you look at some of things they got away with… you couldn't do it in a business."

Despite the revelations about Mr Younger-Ross, he will "probably" vote Lib-Dem but he has "not seen or heard from" any of the candidates.

Christine Martin, selling plants on the market from Springfield Nursery, will back Mr Young-Ross because he has done a "good job" locally, and come to her aid when needed, though he "might have had some problems" with expenses. Others are less supportive, though even Conservative voters again express doubts about Mr Cameron.

Marjorie and Les Connett are typical. They live in Newton Abbot and "were always Tory at one time".

Mr Connett raised, unprompted, Mr Younger-Ross's expenses. "You just wonder what is going to happen to him."

"He has been good locally," added Mrs Connett, but her husband insists it "may affect him". He also notes a disparity between the issues focussed on by national politicians – the national deficit, spending plans and efficiency savings – with the priorities of voters. "People are talking about the lack of jobs, and in the influx of immigrants." Mr Connett believes political leaders must start honestly addressing these concerns, or risk voters drifting away. "What we need is another Margaret Thatcher," Mrs Connett added. "She came out and said what she was going to do, whether you liked her or not, you knew where you stood."

Attempts to woo the "young mum" vote are floundering. "I have got more to think about," said one, dashing through the rain with a pushchair. "I'm probably not going to vote. I don't know much about it."

The same could not be true of the students in Taunton. It is little wonder that all the main parties are stepping up efforts to win over first-time voters, with Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and iPhone downloads.

The myth of all students being Marx-carrying lefties is long gone, as is the assumption that you vote the same way as your parents. Though given my mother and father were offering me bed and board last night, we did not discuss politics at the dinner table.

TOMORROW: Torbay and St Austell

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