 Voters will remain loyal - survey Johannesburg - A survey conducted among 2 000 urban adults in mid-February suggested that 73 percent of people would vote again for the same party in the upcoming local government elections, while 13 percent were undecided, TNS Research Surveys said on Tuesday. “This also suggests that, even amongst those who do plan to go to the polls, over an eighth in February were still to decide whilst a seventh represent the potential swing vote,” TNS spokesperson Neil Higgs said. Amongst those who said that they did not plan to vote, 56 percent said that, if they did, they would not vote for the same party as before. “It seems from this that, if those not planning to vote could be persuaded to vote, the swings might be much larger,” Higgs said in a statement. Even though claimed turn-out levels were likely to be overstated, the study suggested that turn-out in metropolitan areas would be highest in Durban, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and the East Rand. And voter turn-out would be lowest in Soweto, the Vaal Triangle/South Rand and East London. “Differences by age are lower than might be expected but claimed turn-out levels do drop amongst younger people.” The survey also showed that of those happy with their choice of political party in 2009 and who would vote for the same party, 89 percent claimed that they would vote on May 18. This figure dropped to 43 percent among people unhappy with their previous vote, and who would change the party they voted for. “This is a clear indication that dissatisfaction with one's previous party will be likely to be one of the causes of not voting on May 18.” Service delivery was at least a part of this dissatisfaction. Higgs added that 56 percent of people planning to vote were not happy with the service delivery they received from their local municipality, but this rose to 67 percent among those not planning to vote. He said it should be kept in mind that some parties had merged with others. “Indeed, it does appear, overall, that there are a large number of people lacking a political home at present.” The study was conducted among 2 000 adults - 1 260 black, 385 white, 240 coloured and 115 Indian/Asian - in the seven major metropolitan areas. “The studies use probability sampling techniques and are fully representative of the major metropolitan areas,” Higgs said. The studies were conducted as part of TNS's ongoing research into current social and political issues. – Sapa -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
