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Across the political and racial divide South Africans broadly have the same concerns.

This is according to polling conducted by The Common Sense in conjunction with the Social Research Foundation. It was conducted in February and March.

South Africans were asked what top two issues they thought the government should focus on.

The proportion of people who said that jobs and unemployment should be one of the top two issues on which the government should focus was 45.9%, the highest of all the issues.

[Note: Because each respondent was asked to select two issues, the percentage total adds up to 200% rather than 100%. For example, if 15.4% of people named jobs and unemployment as the first of the top two issues that government should focus on and 30.4% named it as the second of the top two priorities, that would mean that 45.9% of people identified it as one of top two priorities for the government.]

It was one of the top two priorities for 47.7% of black people, 47.3% of coloured people, and 34.7% of white people.

Broken down by party affiliation, there was again strong agreement that jobs and unemployment should be one of the top two issues – 45.1% of African National Congress (ANC) supporters said it should be, as well as 47.2% of Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters, and 44.8% of uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) supporters.

Illegal immigration was the issue that the second-highest proportion of people said should be one of the government’s top two priorities.

The proportion of people who said it should be a top-two priority of the government was 23.3%, with 26.6%% of black people saying it should be one of the government’s top two priorities, 15.0% of coloured people, and 9.7% of white people. When it came to political parties, 23.6% of ANC supporters said it should be one of the government’s top two priorities, 17.6% of DA supporters, and 23.6% of MKP supporters.

Corruption came third in the list of top two issues that South Africans thought the government should prioritise. The proportion of people who thought it should be one of the government’s top two priorities was 20.1%, with 15.0% of black South Africans saying it should be, 25.5% of coloured people, and 47.4% of white South Africans.

Broken down by party, 5.7% of ANC supporters said it should be a top-two priority for the government, followed by 34.0% of DA supporters, and 24.2% of MKP supporters.

At the other end of the spectrum, several issues that receive significant political and media attention attracted very little public support.

Only 2.1% of respondents said racism should be one of the government’s top two priorities, with 1.5% of black respondents saying it should be one of the government’s top two priorities, the same proportion as coloured people. However, 7.2% of white people said it should be a top two priority.

Only 2.2% of ANC supporters said it should be a top-two priority, 1.6% of DA supporters, and only 0.2% of MKP supporters.

There were similarly low numbers of people who thought land reform should be one of the government’s top two priorities.

Only 1.3% of all respondents thought land reform should be one of the government's top two priorities. Only 0.9% of black South Africans thought it should be a top-two priority, 0.8% of coloured people, and 4.1% of white South Africans.

Broken down by party-political support, only 1.5% of ANC supporters identified it as a top-two government priority, 2.1% of DA supporters, and only 0.1% of MKP supporters.

Very few people thought climate change should be one of the government’s top two priorities. Only 0.4% of respondents overall said it should be one of the government’s top two priorities, 0.3% of black respondents, 0.9% of coloured people, and 0.9% of white people.

Only 0.1% of ANC supporters said it should be one of the government’s top two priorities, 1.7% of DA supporters, and no MKP supporters.

The chart below shows the complete list of concerns.

South Africans are far more concerned with jobs, corruption, and crime than with the ideological issues that make up much of the country’s political debate. Across race and party divides, the public remains focused on practical problems. The government should do the same.