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Polling* from The Common Sense and the Social Research Foundation, conducted in March, shows jobs and unemployment standing alone at the top of what likely voters want the government to deal with. The question was not asked in the July round, so this is the most recent reading. Asked to name their two top priorities, 45% named jobs, and no other issue reached a quarter. Below it sits a cluster of four, illegal immigration, crime, water and corruption, each named by between a fifth and a quarter of voters and too close together to rank. Electricity is named by 9% and sits tenth of the ten issues on the chart, and rising prices did not reach the 5% needed to appear. The chart below shows the share of likely voters who named each issue as one of their two top priorities for the government.

* The Social Research Foundation's Q1 2026 Market Survey was conducted in conjunction with The Common Sense and carried out by Victory Research among 2 222 registered voters between 20 February and 6 March 2026 using telephonic CATI interviews. A single frame random digit dialling design was used, drawing from all possible South African mobile numbers to ensure that every number had an equal probability of selection. National SIM card penetration exceeds 250.0%, more than 90.0% of adults own a phone, and mobile networks cover 99.8% of the population, providing universal practical coverage. The sample was fully weighted to match the registered voter population across all key demographics, including language, age, race, gender, education, income, and urban or rural location. Turnout modelling assigned each respondent a probability of voting based on questions measuring their likelihood of participation, with the primary turnout model set at 56.0%. Figures in this piece are for the 1 199 likely voters under that model. The survey carries a national margin of error of 4.0% at a 95.0% confidence level and has a design effect of 3.2675.