THE election battle for the Oxford West and Abingdon seat is ramping up, with new analysis revealing the most influential voters.

Pollsters at YouGov last night had the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats level-pegging on 40 per cent each, with Labour continuing to trail behind on 17 per cent.

And data shared exclusively with the Oxford Mail has shown who could hold the key to victory.

The analysis by the Bureau Local, a branch of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, found the most influential group of voters in the constituency are those with university educations.

Bureau Local director Megan Lucero said: “We’ve put together a robust database on voters seat-by-seat to look into voter power.

“Our thinking was, if the electorate largely votes the same as in 2015, where does the power sit to swing or hold a constituency?”

The Bureau estimates about 34,000 people with university educations registered to vote in Oxford West and Abingdon. Of these, men and women aged 25 to 49 registered in the greatest numbers.

The next biggest group were people with GCSE-level educations, who numbered around 15,000.

The registration figures could be good news for the Liberal Democrats. People with university educations were found in polls to have been more likely to vote Remain in the EU referendum last year and the Lib Dems have centred their campaign on opposing Brexit.

The lack of a Green Party candidate means more than 1,000 people who voted for the party in 2015’s general election may also now support someone else.

It came as the number of people registered to vote in Oxford West and Abingdon rose to 79,289 – up from 76,174 two years ago.

But despite the issue dominating campaigns, some voters said Brexit was not their priority.

University-educated Allie Noel, from Cutteslowe, said she was frustrated by the ‘dogs dinner’ choice on June 8. The 60-year-old added: “It is very difficult this time. For the first time ever I am considering spoiling my ballot.

“I do not like Theresa May’s policies on grammar schools and hunting – they will take us back to the 1950s – but I also don’t like how the Lib Dems have now backed the legalisation of cannabis.”

Meanwhile 18-year-old Guillaume Flavin, a sixth former, said he was concerned about public spending: “You can see from cuts to the armed forces that they do not have the equipment they need. I think we need to invest.”

But John Keyes, 61, said: “The biggest issue for me is Brexit and it needs to be done properly.

“I’m going to vote Conservative for the first time in my life.”