But Zuma himself takes hit, although die-hards stay true
THE Sunday Times survey also rated President Jacob Zuma and other political leaders.
Respondents were asked: On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means “totally against” and 10 means “totally in favour”, how would you rate the following political leaders?
The results suggest Nkandla has caused a further dent in Zuma’s popularity. It came off an already relatively low base.
In an earlier survey, conducted between February 20 and March 11, before the release of public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on Nkandla, Zuma scored an average of 6.5 out of 10 among all voters and 7.9 among just ANC voters.
In the second survey, conducted between March 21 and April 4, just after Madonsela released her report on March 19, Zuma’s favourability dropped to 6.2 among all voters, but only
Zuma’s hardcore support base remained loyal through thick and thin
fractionally among ANC registered voters, down to 7.8.
The number of respondents who rated Zuma between 0 and 2, or “totally against”, increased from 23% to 27%, and the number who rated him between 8 and 10, or “totally in favour”, remained consistent at 32% among all voters.
This suggested Zuma’s hardcore support base remained loyal to him through thick and thin, whereas some of those more ambivalent about his performance (who rated him as average in the previous survey, between 3 and 7) responded to the Nkandla report by downgrading their assessment of him.
Zuma’s rating is, however, generally low.
Former president Thabo Mbeki boasted a rating of 7.1 and former ANC deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe also fared better than Zuma in the second Ipsos survey, scoring an average of 6.3. Both were slightly down on the first survey, in which they scored 7.5 and 6.6 respectively.
There was a general decline in popularity of all the main political party leaders.
Among others, Helen Zille scored 4.9 (down from 5.1 in the first survey), Julius Malema scored 3.9 (down from 4.2), Mosiuoa Lekota scored 4.1 (down from 4.6) and Mamphela Ramphele scored 3.8 (down from 4.4). — Gareth van Onselen