Undecided? Of course you are.

Sure, your parents are awful Tories and you go to John’s, but you’re absolutely sick of pretending that a picture of a man awkwardly failing to eat a sandwich is still funny, and besides, your uncle still hates Thatcher for stealing his milk. Then again, stomaching the idea of ‘Chancellor Balls’ is proving too much, you wish you cared more about the environment, and as a student you find Nigel Farage’s almost permanent attachment to a pint subconsciously alluring. What a dither.

In all seriousness, the fact remains that in fewer than 100 days you will be able to vote in an election that multiple outlets are dubbing impossible to call – and there is a lot to weigh up. The economy appears good superficially: some growth and more jobs created in the UK than all other EU states combined. However, real wages have gone backwards, the Tories haven’t met their economic targets and are often perceived to have cut public funding too sharply. In such a situation, Miliband (the one you didn’t want) should be sailing into Number 10 come May 7th. But he’s monumentally unpopular, falling behind Gordon Brown’s ratings – I didn’t know that the scale could register support lower than that – and in the last 10 general elections the least popular candidate has only won once: the aforementioned milk snatcher. On top of this the Tories have started nudging ahead in opinion polls, and the Greens are adding 500 members a day whilst the SNP are likely to snap up Labour seats in Scotland. And then there’s UKIP, whose gaffes appear to occur a little too often to use ‘all parties have their extremists’ as a defence.

In terms of actual policy, voters care most about the economy. Even though I’m largely ignorant of the complexities here, I know that whatever happens it is likely that austerity will continue. Picking a party here is to choose the lesser of evils. A top economist at a leading think tank, the IFS, is warning that Labour could add £170 billion to national debt and that “Ed Balls' economic plan would result in increased borrowing and possible long-term financial insecurity.” As a result, part of me wants to see if the Tories can deliver on their painfully overused mantra of a ‘long-term economic plan’ and balance the budget by 2020. However, they haven’t achieved their deficit reduction plan so hope can only be muted. In terms of other parties, the Green’s economic plans are brief – a low carbon economy creating real jobs for the future; scrapping caps on welfare; building houses – and respectively vague. Many students I’ve talked to want to vote Green, and I agree with people pushing the environment forward in politics, but seem completely ignorant of their thinly explained policies. Oh, and UKIP want to retreat from the biggest trading bloc on the planet. Good luck with that.

On top of this, I see no party offering a considered approach to the NHS. Labour are typically the most trusted on this topic, but it is the Tories who previously pledged higher funding. Then again, throwing money at an institution that, whilst universally beloved, struggles to fit the claim ‘fit for purpose’ is a cheap, populist response to a serious problem. Fear of the electorate prevents the political class from admitting the NHS needs considerable reform – even former Labour minister, Charles Clarke, admitted something akin to health insurance may be required to ease pressure – meaning the Tories try to privatise it quietly. On top of this, no party seems to have a considered approach to immigration, tapping into popular prejudices rather than approaching the issue in terms of practicality. Surely the questions asked should concern whether we have enough houses or if the health service can cope, not hiding from imaginary swathes of rabid Bulgarians obviously rampaging our towns and cities.

Even though they should be taken with a pinch of salt given their Punch and Judy, populist nature, I will pay particular attention to the television debates this time round. Given the cacophony of noise expected at an uncertain election, the inclusion of smaller parties will be a useful way to identify their different messages. This is something I desire greatly from Labour. The Leader of the Opposition may be a policy wonk but I have yet to see a cohesive vision presented by him that is convincing, something Lord Mandelson highlighted with his ringing endorsement of Miliband as “the leader we have and therefore the leader I support.”

Once you’ve considered it all, you might have chosen a party to vote for. You may even wait excitedly for election day, eager to cast your ballot and push your ideals forward. And then you’ll remember that you live in a safe seat, that your vote is worth 22 times less than somebody in a different constituency, and that the party you like will never get in power. Consequently, the future remains unclear. Labour has an image problem; the Tories have not secured an overall majority in 23 years and are haemorrhaging supporters to UKIP, whilst widespread disillusionment is driving the profile of smaller parties. Subsequently, on the 8th of May you could wake up to Miliband allied to the SNP, the Greens possessing multiple seats, or Cameron in bed with Farage whilst Nick Clegg hands out CVs on a street corner.

Damn. I forgot the Lib Dems. Time for a rethink.