TCS: Afrikaans and English voters share striking common ground

This article was first published by The Common Sense.Key topics:Afrikaans & English speakers share similar views on SA directionBroad agreement in negative views of Cyril Ramaphosa & African National CongressStrong support for Democratic Alliance, with some leadership divides.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By TCS Politics Desk.One-hundred and twenty-four years after the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902, brought an end to formal hostilities between English speakers and Afrikaans speakers, the two groups show a remarkable degree of common ground on how they see present-day South Africa.One of the ways that the Social Research Foundation/The Common Sense polls are broken down is by home language. In the analysis that follows, the views and opinions of Afrikaans speakers are weighed against those of English speakers.In terms of whether the country is moving in the right direction or the wrong direction, 24% of Afrikaans speakers say the right direction and 74% the wrong direction. For English speakers the statistic is almost identical at 25% to 72%.In terms of political favourability, 58% of Afrikaans voters view President Cyril Ramaphosa unfavourably, compared to 57% of English speakers.In answer to the question which party only cares about themselves, 62% of Afrikaans speakers said the African National Congress (ANC) and amongst English speakers it was 67%..Read more:.Steenhuisen: Strong leadership and smart voter choices can turn South Africa around.On the Government of National Unity (GNU), 39% of Afrikaans voters think it has performed poorly compared to 46% of English speakers. Fifty percent of Afrikaans speakers think it has performed well compared to 48% of English speakers.On the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the GNU, 80% of Afrikaans voters think the party has performed well, while 84% of English speakers think it has performed well. For the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) 65% of Afrikaans voters thought it was performing well and 52% of English-speaking voters.On John Steenhuisen, there is somewhat of a split, with 38% of Afrikaans voters having a favourable view of the outgoing DA leader, compared to the 50% of English speakers who view him favourably.With regard to Steenhuisen’s exit as DA leader, 54% of Afrikaans speakers said it would make no difference to their voting intention. That was true for a smaller 50% of English voters, with a strong 36% of those voters saying it would make them even more likely to support the DA.Forty-nine percent of Afrikaans voters prefer Geordin Hill-Lewis as the next DA leader, with a similar proportion of English speakers preferring the Cape Town mayor.Whereas less than half of Afrikaners said the DA had the best policies, for English speakers that was nearly 60%.Forty-five percent of Afrikaans speakers said Steenhuisen was responsible for the foot-and-mouth disease crisis, given that he had failed to act decisively. This was the same proportion of English speakers who had this view.However, in terms of voting intention, 60% of Afrikaans voters would vote for the DA if an election were held today compared to 75% of English speakers. The bulk of the balance of Afrikaans speakers was split between the FF+ and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), with 15% each. For English speakers 8% said they would vote for the FF+ and 6% for the PA..Read more:.John Matisonn: DA’s leadership test amid record support .The DA likely continues to have one major lead over the FF+, which seldom comes up in thinking about the two parties: the inclusion/exclusion split. One of the more powerful drivers of Afrikaner (now as opposed to Afrikaans-speaker) voter behaviour is the desire to be included into “SA Inc”, and the DA, in much of its positioning, offers that perhaps more explicitly than the FF+ has ever done. That same desire is deeply imprinted on the bulk of white voter behaviour too..This article was first published by The Common Sense and is republished with permission.

TCS: Afrikaans and English voters share striking common ground

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