Changes In Foreign Policy Perception Over Time In South Africa
Over time the Foundation has tested public opinion on South Africa's foreign policy alignment. It has done so variously by asking respondents whether South Africa should align its foreign policy with Western liberal democracies against countries countries such as Russia, China and Iran. Or whether it should align with the latter against the United States and the European Union. These questions have been phrased differently over time, ranging from presenting respondents with contrasting statements to either agree or disagree with or simply asking direct questions about which power bloc to align with or against. In this report the data from all those responses has been collated into a simple binary analysis - on the one side of the divide what share of South Africans support alignment with countries such as Russia, China and Iran and on the other what share support alignment with countries such as the United States and those in the European Union. This allows the report to track foreign policy opinion over time.
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
ANC
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
DA
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
EFF
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
MK
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
Black voters
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
Coloured voters
Should South Africa ally its foreign policy with the EU and the US or with Russia and China?
White voters
TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS
The data shows that ANC and EFF voter opinion generally splits modestly in favour of Russia and China whilst DA opinion splits in favour of the West, but perhaps not by the extent that some observers may imagine. So too does MK opinion but note that if you tally the MK opinion totals you may get to a figure of over 100%. This is due to respondents supporting alignment against both global power blocks - a statement, perhaps, on the duality of man and something that is common to a lot of serious opinion research. The race based data shows that black opinion generally splits roughly evenly, but if anything in favour of Russia and China, whilst white opinion splits strongly in favour of the West and coloured opinion generally in favour of the West (the Indian data is excluded for reasons of sample size).
