TWO students have turned into pollsters as part of a 'side project' alongside their degrees, ahead of the local council and Manchester mayoral elections later this year.

Bolton Elects is a Twitter account dedicated to providing polling, predictions, gossip and election results for the people of Bolton.

The page was set up Alex Thoms, from Bolton, and Robert Anev from Salford - both final year data science students at the University of Warwick.

Alex said: "We both have a slight interest in politics, but for us, it's mainly good to look at the data and create links - seeing what people like and relating what the media reports with how people change their mind.

"We started this as a side project during the first lockdown and are now using it as coursework for our university project which is super convenient."

The pair have so far conducted a poll on voting intention for the Greater Manchester Mayoral election in May, which showed 50 per cent support for Andy Burnham in a sample of more than 1,600 people.

Analysis has also been undertaken in each individual council ward within Bolton Council boundaries - but with much smaller samples.

They started off by posting ads on social media, asking people to share their opinion on different topics.

Respondents are asked personal details including age, ethnicity, voting preference, what they do for work and whether or not they have children.

Alex added: "We then look at rough statistics for Bolton that we get from the council, and take groups that represent the statistics to answer our questions.

"We always ask people to take the polling with a pinch of salt - we've been waiting over a year for an election so after that, we will know how well we're doing."

The local elections and the Greater Manchester mayoral election will take place on May 6, 2021.