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New polling* from The Common Sense and the Social Research Foundation shows Democratic Alliance (DA) voters have swung from a favourable to a sharply unfavourable view of Gayton McKenzie, leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture in the Government of National Unity. In February last year 36% of DA voters viewed him favourably and 23% unfavourably. By March this year the favourable share had fallen to 16% and the unfavourable share had risen to 31%. In July, 14% viewed him favourably and 49% unfavourably, more than three to one against. A third of DA voters, 33%, now hold a very unfavourable view of him, up from 13% in February 2025. The chart below shows the share of DA voters with a favourable and an unfavourable view of McKenzie at each of the three rounds in which he was asked about.

* The figures come from three Social Research Foundation Market Surveys conducted in conjunction with The Common Sense and carried out by Victory Research using telephonic CATI interviews. A single frame random digit dialling design was used in each round, with respondents screened for voter registration and then interviewed, and the sample was further quota-controlled for key demographic characteristics of South Africa's registered voter population. National SIM card penetration exceeds 250.0%, making telephonic interviewing a reliable method of reaching a representative sample of registered voters. Each sample was fully weighted according to the demographic parameters of the registered voter population. Figures in this piece are for DA voters, a subgroup of each round's registered-voter sample. Each round carries a national margin of error of 4.0% at a 95.0% confidence level; the margin for a subgroup is wider.

The rounds were: 4 to 19 February 2025, 1 004 respondents, design effect 2.0127; 20 February to 6 March 2026, 2 222 respondents, design effect 3.2675; and 8 to 31 July 2026, 2 214 respondents, design effect 3.7938.