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Race still plays a major role in voter decisions, women dominate the support for some parties, the balance of party allegiance changes as voters get older, and support for opposition parties is lowest in South Africa’s rural areas. These are some of the findings highlighted in various breakdowns of voting intentions contained in the 2003 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council. The survey also revealed that nearly two-thirds of black respondents, and a higher proportion among other race groups, did not believe that life had improved for them since the 1999 election. In addition, significant minorities of all race groups expressed some form of “political alienation”, believing that whether or not they voted would make no difference, or that politics was too complicated for them to understand. Black voters dominate among supporters of the African National Congress (ANC) - 94,3% of ANC supporters are black, while the white proportion of support within the ANC is minimal (0,4%). The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is also a predominantly black formation – 97,8% of its supporters are black. By contrast, more than 75% of Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters are white. Some 42% of New National Party (NNP) supporters are from the coloured community. Female voters are slightly more than half of ANC supporters (53%) and half of DA supporters (50%). They are in a clear majority within the NNP (56%) and the IFP (61%). The survey revealed interesting differences in party support among different age groups. For the DA and NNP, support is highest in the 35-49 year category, and for the IFP in the 50+ category. Support for the ANC, given its size, largely mirrors the age distribution of the population, but is highest in the 25-34 age range. The survey also detailed voting intentions by four geographic types – urban formal, urban informal, rural formal and tribal. The ANC and the IFP score highest in two categories – urban formal and “tribal” areas – while the DA and the NNP both have support residing overwhelmingly in formal urban areas. A total of 32% of respondents did not declare a party preference. This figure was much higher among Indians (60%), whites (50%) and coloureds (45%) than among Africans (28%). Voters in urban formal areas (38%) were more undecided than their counterparts in other areas. Of the 7,8% of respondents who said that they will not vote in the 2004 elections, the largest proportion (just over 40%) said they would not participate because they were not interested. Full presentation and tables
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