Young voters anything but apathetic

SOUTH Africa’s youngest voters may shatter expectations when they enter polling booths on Wednesday, according to a recently published survey.

On April 29, digital research company Answered released a survey of attitudes among potential young voters, drawing on a 400person sample of South Africans aged 18 to 29.

The findings indicated that, contrary to popular belief, young urban South Africans are almost universally critical of the government as well as highly invested in their country’s political future.

“What surprised us all was that we almost came in expecting to measure the level of apathy,” Answered managing director Jacqui Greeff said.

“There’s a sense here that the youth are not as interested in the running of the country, in the politics of the day, as the previous generation was. But our biggest finding… was that they are anything but apathetic.”

In particular, Greeff pointed to statistics indicating the gap between strong patriotic sentiment and dissatisfaction with the current ANC regime.

While 96 percent of respondents indicated the importance of South Africa becoming a “world-class country”, nearly the same number – 94 percent – had little confidence this can happen unless the government improves.

Plus, only 15 percent of youth believe the ANC-led government is strong, which “feels like an indictment”, according to Greeff.

Wanda Mdekasi, a 19-year-old entertainment agent living in Soweto, said while some of her friends were excited about voting, others had expressed confusion or lack of interest. Some didn’t know what the ANC is.

Mdekasi herself isn’t planning to vote because she has to work on Wednesday. “Whether I do or don’t doesn’t have any significance to me,” she said.

Intention to vote aside, the study highlighted several other trends among young people, including the decreased importance of race and family voting history.