Polling* from The Common Sense and the Social Research Foundation shows that white and coloured voters have become far less gloomy about the direction South Africa is taking. In July 2022 only 5% of white voters and 2% of coloured voters said the country was going in the right direction; by July 2026 those shares were 22% and 20% respectively. Among black voters the share went from 14% to 18%. Four years ago black voters were the most hopeful of the three groups, ahead of both white and coloured voters. The country's mood is now shared far more evenly across population groups than it was four years ago. The chart below shows the share of black, coloured, and white voters who said South Africa was going in the right direction in July 2022 and in July 2026.

*The figures come from two Social Research Foundation Market Surveys of registered voters, each a national telephone poll with results weighted to the voting population. The rounds were: July 2022 (3 204 respondents, design effect 3.17) and July 2026 (2 214 respondents, design effect 3.79).