The flourishing Green party is to target the student vote in the runup to next May’s general election, in an attempt to further strengthen its position in the polls and inflict more damage on the Liberal Democrats.

The Green leader, Natalie Bennett, said students and young people were already flocking to the party, which last week overtook the Lib Dems in two polls. Bennett said young people would be absolutely critical to making a big breakthrough in the general election.

The strategy has strong echoes of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s policy of targeting students just before the last election, when the short-lived burst of “Cleggmania” was fuelled by a rush of excitement on campuses about what the Lib Dems were offering.

Bennett said the Greens had high hopes for several seats in university towns, including Norwich and Bristol. “I think there are probably very few Liberal Democrat voters in universities,” she said. “And that’s true of lecturers and staff as well as students.

“What we’re offering young people is hope: the idea of a future that works for the common good, that doesn’t see the bankers being allowed to get away with endless fraud, mismanagement and risk-taking at the expense of the rest of us.”

In nine months the Young Greens have recorded a 165% increase in membership, going from 1,700 to more than 4,500, with 65 groups nationally, including many societies on university campuses.

While the Greens attract young voters on the left and liberal wings, Ukip is equally keen to attract young people on the Eurosceptic right. Students defecting from the Tories are fuelling the rise of Ukip’s youth group, Young Independence, which established Ukip Students in August, headed by Joe Jenkins, 21. Ukip Students has 18 societies in universities and 2,600 members.

Bennett attributed the rise in enthusiasm for the Greens among young people to “profound disillusionment” among younger voters with the bigger parties, and anger with the Lib Dems after their U-turn on tuition fees and support for a Tory-led government. “I think young people being involved in the process of democracy is crucial. It’s critically important that we reach voters at the first chance,” she said.

The Greens are targeting 12 seats in England, including Holborn and St Pancras in London, where Bennett is standing.

She said: “We’re seeing Young Green groups, particularly in universities, grow very strongly. I was at Sheffield freshers’ fair. I walked across this hall and it was heaving with a couple of thousand people in it and I was having problems getting across, but only because I was being stopped for so many selfies.”