The 2019 Quarter one, South African Citizens Survey findings, released on Wednesday morning, show a decrease in support for the African National Congress (ANC), yet another drop in trust for Eskom, and an all-time high number of unmotivated voters.
Director of Research and Strategy at Citizen Surveys Reza Omar explains:
“What we observed was Eskom’s trust rested around the 56% mark and that carried all the way to January but as load shedding began in February trust in Eskom dropped from 56% to 49% and in March it dropped to 39%.”
Omar says that load shedding could be a contributing factor in the ANC’s decreasing numbers:
“What we observed with the ANC is that their high point was in December, they were receiving, in the blind ballot that we were engaging about 64% and in January and February they held stable at 63% but in March when load shedding began they dropped to 61%.”
However, he says the research shows that despite the drop in support for the ANC President Ramaphosa’s favourability rating has increased.
“We also measured the favourability of political leaders especially Ramaphosa and what we’ve observed is from quarter four his favourability rating was 55% and despite the load shedding in quarter one, his favourability rating went up to 57%, so as the support for the ANC dropped Cyril Ramaphosa, his favourability increased.”
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