#WhatSACanBe: Latest IRR data shows cautious optimism, common ground
12 October 2024
Political changes in South Africa have sparked cautious optimism about the prospect of people's lives improving, with the Government of National Unity (GNU) enjoying substantial goodwill in a country with positive race relations and shared aspirations for economic growth.
Together, these create a unique opportunity for cohesive, outcomes-based governance in the current democratic term. These are the key findings of the latest IRR opinion polling, conducted in September and October, and published this morning. (A link to the full presentation is included below.)
The results were published in an online presentation today by IRR head of strategic communications Hermann Pretorius.
The data shows that more South Africans than before are cautiously optimistic about life in South Africa getting better, with 48% of people holding the position that their lives will be better five years from today, compared to 25% thinking the opposite. This is a telling inversion of responses in the past. In 2022, only 34% of people had a positive outlook on the five years ahead, where 44% believed things would get worse. On whether life was better, the same or worse than five years earlier, the IRR’s 2022 polling found 54% saying “worse”, while in 2024, this number is down to 43%.