to ask if I'm alone in sensing that the election results will confound the pollsters??

[grovel]

It's just a gut feeling that the nation(s) won't vote as predicted.

Labour seem fairly confident they will regain my seat (Bedford) from the Tories. I'm not so sure. There were lots of LibDem voters last time around and it isn't clear how they will vote this time.

I decided in the booth, going in I knew who I definitely didn't want (Conservative and UKIP) but was still undecided right up until I put the cross in the box. All a waste of time really as it is such a safe Conservative seat anyway.

It certainly seems a lot busier than I've ever experienced.

I don't know how the polling works but I suspect they focus on the marginal seats, given the turn out there might be some surprises in other areas.

Copied from Telegraph:

Seat projection by pollster Nate Silver

Party
Conservatives 283
Labour 270
SNP 48
Lib Dems 24
DUP 8
Ukip 1
Other 16

Thanks Bunny. Interesting.

Does anyone remember how many seats the Lib Dems got at the last election?

57, flippinada. I don't think they'll lose quite as many seats as predicted.

I also think the Lib Dems will hold up better than expected. There's still a definite niche for a socially liberal but fiscally conservative or at least centrist party. I voted Lib Dem despite being a natural Labour voter because they're the only hope of unseating the Tory in my constituency.

Also someone upthread suggested that the prospect of a minority Labour government propped up by the SNP might scare off more centrist voters. Wouldn't the prospect of a Tory minority government propped up by UKIP and Northern Irish unionists do the same? The NI parties will want their pound of flesh every bit as much as the SNP and UKIP are the marmite of politics. I also don't think UKIP will get more than two seats - I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they only got one. I could see turnout spiking in constituencies with a prominent UKIP candidate as everyone else turned out against them.

I think that sounds about right. I reckon the Conservatives will win the most seats, but won't have enough to form a majority. Up here in Scotland, I think the SNP will do very well.

I also think we will get another five years of the same. I really hope we don't but I think that's what'll happen.

On a personal level, I will be ok whoever gets in but am desperately worried about the impact on people who won't be.

In 2010, Conservatives gained 9 seats more than predicted, Labour lost one more than predicted and Lib Dems lost 9 more than predicted. So, it is really difficult to dare guess what will happen this time. I think the 'shy Tory' vote will mean that the Conservatives do better than expected.

Thanks Bunnyjo.

More posts since I started typing - I was referring to the Nate Silver poll.

If I went by my Facebook the world is voting SNP but a lot of people are conspicuous in their silence. I noticed what you were saying too TalkinPeace. Technically at the moment wouldn't it be Angus Robertson who would be leading the SNP in the Commons? He's also been strangely absent - this has definitely been Nicola's campaign.

The really interesting thing though is whether the reports about formerly "apathetic" voters coming out to vote will turn out to be true.

There seems to be quite a focus on that notion this time.

I decided before I voted, wobbled in the booth and then stuck with my decision. It took until this week for me to decide between the two though.

I then voted for 3 candidates for the local council, none of whom are members of the two parties I was considering voting for in the General Election,

Does that make me the wobbliest of all swing voters?

I think the SNP won't do as well as predicted. I just don't see how there can be such a turnaround given the recent referendum results. They seem to have a lot of support in my area, judging by posters in windows, but I think a lot of people don't like to advertise other allegiances, and like in the referendum on the day, the less vocal voters will come out and vote their usual or tactically to keep them out.

I think overall the Conservatives will do better than predicted and will form the next government.

I am rather excited by it all and will be waiting up to find out.

I voted early and the polling station was quiet but the stations at my son's school and daughter's nursery were heaving when I collected them this afternoon around 5-ish. There was even an ice-cream van cleaning up in the queue outside the nursery polling station!

The man who will lead the SNP at Westminster : Alec Salmond - has been conspicuously absent from our screens.

Have they locked him in the attic worried he'd scupper their plans with an ill judged remark? I haven't caught so much as a glimpse of him in the past few weeks.

Who is DUP?

I keep seeing it everywhere and forgot to ask

So. Sorry, not a uk national so this is all new... They need 326 to win a majority, yes? But with the numbers above, neither labour nor conservative can Jon with lib dem and it looks like no matter what ths SNP is in if it is a coalition? Who did they say they would be willing to join with?

I live close to the Scottish border in what is considered a very safe Conservative seat.

There is a lot of vocal support for Labour or SNP on my Facebook feed, but I don't think that is indicative of anything. During the Scottish Referendum my feed was full of YES campaigners with only the odd NO campaigner, but as we know the vote turned out to be different story...

SNP are going to do brilliantly. I think UKIP will do better than expected and I think Labour will die in their arse, particularly since most of Scotland are voting SNP.

DUP are a NI party, the Democratic Unionist Party.

Bunch of weirdo swivel eyed loons of the looniest order.

I'm in a safe labour seat so decided to vote Green for the first time!

I think Ukip will do better than expected as a lot of people won't tell posters they have voted that way. I know 3 people who have voted UKIP and I was surprised.

I also think that the Libdems will do better than the pollsters expect.
Their theoretical loses in the polls are just that - theoretical, they have not been tested at the ballot box in a general election yet. It has been shown repeatedly that swing voters often revert to type, voting for for more of the same.
My guesstimate - LD to poll 14-15% nationwide, not the projected 9%.