Premier Ewart Brown has travelled across the Atlantic to court Bermuda's young voters while Opposition leader Micheal Dunkley's team is putting out a satirical video this week on Youtube to entice young people to vote UBP.

But many young voters told The Royal Gazette they will be casting their ballots based on the issues rather than party affiliation at the December 18 election. Thirty people under 30 replied to a survey which asked them about their views on politics, what their concerns were and what they would be basing their votes on.

All but one were registered to vote and 21 of them said their friends were planning to vote as well. Those whose friends will not be voting said it was because they were not interested in politics or were unable to fly home for the election.

Makai Dickerson, 25, is a member of the PLP youth wing and works for HWP. He believes education and crime are two of the most pressing issues in Bermuda.

He said some of his friends weren't voting: "I am concerned with the lack of interest shown by many young Bermudians in terms of getting involved in the political process as well as playing an active role in addressing the Issues that we face today. Many talk about the problems but not too many seem willing to do anything the help fix them."

The survey also showed that young voters were less likely to base their votes on party loyalty, 20 of them said they were basing their votes largely on the issues.

Ten people said they were basing their votes largely on party affiliation and six said they were basing their votes on the individual candidates in their constituency.

Christopher Astwood, who is 23 and a teaching assistant at Knox College, is concerned about education.

He said: "I think the fact that many people just blindly vote the same way every five years is one of the great failings of our system."

Education and the lack of affordable housing topped the list of the biggest issues facing Bermuda currently among those surveyed, 18 people mentioned them.

Price Smith, who is 25 and works in finance, said: "I am primarily concerned about two things. The first is the complete redevelopment of Bermuda's educational system as part of a continued effort to create equality throughout the workplace and diminish the economic disparity we currently have across the Island.

"The second, but equally important, is to ensure the proper treatment of our guest workers and the proper management of Bermuda's financial industry to ensure the future of International Business in Bermuda. A successful educational system is rendered useless without employment opportunities and vice versa."

Paul Wilson, who is 24 and attends the University of Buckingham, said: "The reason for the need for affordable housing is directly because of the exorbitant prices of apartments and the cost of living in general. It is arguable that this is directly related to the influx of foreign workers.

"Parents are, literally, forced to work more hours in order to sustain their families. As a result, the children are not developing as they should. This is having adverse effects on the school system."

And Mischa Fubler, who is 21 and attends York University, said: "One of my main concerns is that I will be unable to own a home in my birthplace and that, due to the ever escalating cost of living, I will most likely be unable to retire there either."

Thirteen of the young people also said they were concerned about the racial division on the Island.

Christopher Astwood said: "Why can't white Bermudians admit that most of us had a serious head start in life over our black contemporaries? Why can one still walk down the road and point out the 'white' and 'black' establishments?

"The Government is hardly helping things — holding a "big discussion" on one hand and then repeatedly politicising racial issues for their own personal gain on the other.

"A government who can tackle race as openly and directly as the current Government, while avoiding the current Government's mistake of also using race to gain political capital, will make me happy but this may be no more than a pipe dream."

Violence was another major concern with 13 people saying it was a growing problem. Many said the youth needed to be better engaged.

Ben Dier is 24 and works for a local bank. One of his main concerns is that of international business leaving the Island due to new legislation.

He said young people should be encouraged to get involved in helping themselves. "Give the wall-sitters something to do besides smoke weed," he said. "Create a football academy, a legit one with one or two international coaches.

"And stop requesting reports on the black youth. Why don't locals just ask them and save us the time and money."

Independence was rarely mentioned with only four people saying they considered it an important issue in this election.

The participants were also asked about the main issues facing young people today — again housing and education topped the list.

But this time other issues such as new legislation for International Businesses were mentioned, by seven people, and eight people mentioned they were concerned about the stability of the economy.

Jenne Gracie, who is studying at the University of Damascus in Syria, said: "I am concerned about having a Bermuda to live in the future that is similar to that which we live in today and which hasn't lost its flair, economy, political stability and environment!

"And where our children have similar opportunities and a similar lifestyle to what we are able to enjoy in today's Bermuda.

"This I believe will largely be based upon our ability to continue to enjoy a strong economy. However, I fear that political instability and personal agendas will push away the existing companies and dissuade new ones from coming to Bermuda."

Sixteen people said they believed the issues were not being addressed and seven said not enough was being done to address the major issues.

Both parties have been looking to secure the youth vote by using websites like Facebook, youth-orientated public meetings and the video sharing website Youtube.

Only a handful of the survey participants stated which party they would be voting for in this election but the last Research Innovations survey, done from October 26-29, showed that 48.5 percent of those polled aged 18-35 would vote UBP and 45.5 percent would vote PLP.

Pollster Walton Brown said the survey had been done under similar procedures as polls he produced for The Royal Gazette before that arrangement was stopped after he became an election candidate for the Progressive Labour Party.

The meagre gap between the two parties show that the following 29 days will be interesting and both parties will have to keep up their campaigns aimed at young voters, because neither can say they have captured the young vote yet.