A ‘significant majority’ of South Africans across race, class and party political lines believe the country ‘is moving in the wrong direction’, according to a new report.
This finding by the Social Research Foundation, a think-tank focusing on public policy issues and the promotion of democracy, is based on two surveys of registered voters, in June last year, and in March this year.
Survey participants were asked: ‘In general, are things in South Africa going in the right direction or wrong direction?’
Notably, more than half of ANC-supporting respondents in both surveys said they believed the country was moving in the wrong direction, with fewer than 20% in 2022 and fewer than 10% this year believing the country was moving in the right direction.
This sentiment is true for most respondents.
As the SRF notes: ‘A significant majority of South Africans, regardless of race, income level, or political persuasion believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction.’
It adds: ‘This finding is unchanged from that of June 2022 and is in line with a long-term trend (the data for which is not shown in this report) that has seen public confidence in the future deteriorate.’
The scale of disenchant is vivid in the following slides.
Both surveys were conducted telephonically, the first (in June 2022) among 3 204 geographically and demographically representative registered voters, and the second (last month) among a sample of 1 517 geographically and demographically representative registered voters. The first survey had a national margin of error of 1.7%, the second, of 4%.