ANC voters ageing

OLDER people, women and Zulu speakers voted for the ANC.

These are some of the findings of a survey titled “Local Government Elections 2016” by the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Social Change.

A survey was conducted at 21 voting stations in Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Free State during the local government elections and 4 313 questionnaires were completed.

Centre director Professor Peter Alexander released the results yesterday.

The survey found half of respondents under 25 voted for the ANC, and more than 70% aged 55 and older also did so.

People between the ages of 25 and 39 voted for the EFF while the DA did best among voters under the age of 25.

“So the ANC is less popular amongst younger voters. The big message to take away here is that the ANC are likely to have problems in the future because their support is getting older and older ... I think if the ANC doesn’t restore support among younger people they will basically run into difficulties.”

The survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of women voted for the ANC compared to only half of the men.

It also found more men than women voted for the EFF.

“... the EFF has to think about how it’s going to attract more women voters or how does it become more attractive for women.”

However, the survey found the DA secured equal support from men and women.

More Zulu-speaking people voted for the ANC, at 69%, and Alexander said this was likely to do with its leader being Zulu.

An overwhelming number of white and coloured people voted for the DA at 83%.

People living in RDP houses who were also beneficiaries of social grants voted for the ANC while those residing in shacks voted for the EFF.

“The significance of this ... is that where the ANC has developed people whether through social grants or RDP [houses] there is a high chance of those people supporting the ANC; where people live in shacks certainly the chance of them supporting the ANC is much less.”