LATEST FROM KANTAR TNS ‒ ‘President Jacob Zuma should resign,’ says 7 out of 10 South Africans
7 out of 10 South Africans have stated that Jacob Zuma should resign as the president of South Africa. This comes in the aftermath of the cabinet reshuffle on Thursday 30 March and the axing of both the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan and his Deputy, Mcebisi Jonas.
This is according to a Mobile survey conducted by Kantar TNS from Saturday 1 April to Monday 3 April amongst 1000 South African adults and representative in terms of race, age, gender and province.
Key benefits of mobile surveys are that they capture the views and reactions of people close to the moment that they experience events and are self-reported and hence free from any interviewer influence – it is an accurate in-the-moment measure of mood and sentiment.
Although results were consistent across race and province, White/Indian/Coloured respondents held stronger views with 84% calling for President Zuma’s resignation versus 69% of Black respondents. The Western Cape showed the highest support for resignation (92%) with KwaZulu-Natal the lowest (63%), but still with a majority. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo all had support for ‘resignation’ with levels of 70% and above.
There have been calls by various parties for President Jacob to step down. Do you think Jacob Zuma should resign as the President of South Africa? Yes or No.
|
Total |
Black |
Coloured |
White |
Indian* |
|
|
Sample |
1 000 |
687 |
107 |
147 |
47 |
|
Yes |
74% |
69% |
80% |
85% |
91% |
|
No |
26% |
31% |
20% |
15% |
9% |
* Caution, Small sample base
President Jacob Zuma’s performance approval rating continues to decline
Kantar TNS has been measuring public sentiment in terms of whether President Zuma has been doing a good job, through an omnibus survey, since his inauguration as the president in 2009.
This survey reveals that his approval rating is now at an all-time low. In this latest omnibus survey, only 20% of all South Africans, living in metropolitan areas, feel that Zuma is doing a good job as president of South Africa.
In the same period, people who held the view that President Jacob Zuma is not doing a good job as president, went up from 67% to 71% of those surveyed.
The shift in ratings is most marked amongst black respondents with 64% disagreeing that President Jacob Zuma is doing a good job as president which is up from 59% in February last year. Black females, in particular, are expressing a stronger opinion about their disapproval with ratings of 65% versus 57% last year.
This is according to Kantar TNS’s first omnibus study of 2017, conducted between 15 and 30 March 2017 amongst a sample of 2000 South African adults living in the seven major metropolitan areas of South Africa. The sample is representative in terms of the area, race and gender profile of metropolitan South Africa.
The results of the mobile survey resonate with South Africans’ views on the performance of the president. The national mobile survey was conducted two days after the cabinet reshuffle. The metro omnibus survey was conducted before the ‘recall’ of Pravin Gordhan from his international investor roadshow and the subsequent cabinet reshuffle.
Technical note:
Kantar TNS’s omnibus survey was conducted among 2000 adults (age 18+) between 15 and 30 March 2017, in the seven major metropolitan areas.
The mobile survey was administered by Kantar TNS (South Africa) on 1-3 April. It was done as a short message service (SMS) based mobile survey, which has the benefit of reaching across all mobile devices. The study was conducted amongst 1000 adults (18+ years) across South Africa. The data is representative in terms of race, gender, age and province.
Both studies were conducted by Kantar TNS and Kantar Public as part of its ongoing research into current social and political issues and was funded by Kantar South Africa.
Kantar TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, Kantar TNS has more conversations with the world’s consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world. Kantar TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups. Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information.
Issued by Kantar TNS, 5 April 2017
