The overall objective of this study was to inform and guide the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in its plans, policies and practices in order to assist the Commission to implement its mandate optimally. The specific objectives of the study were to evaluate the general State of Democracy in South Africa, to determine voting intention and behaviour and to examine the electoral and political involvement of specific groups such as women and youth in South Africa. The Electoral Commission (IEC) purchased a set of questions in the 2012 round of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS).The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has been conducting the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) on an annual basis since 2003, with the 10th round completed late in 2012. SASAS is a nationally representative sample survey of approximately 3,500 adults aged 16 and older that investigates public's attitudes, beliefs, behaviour patterns and values in the country. The long term aim of this survey programme is to construct an empirical evidence base that will enable analysts to track and explain the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patterns of the country's diverse populations. Due to various requests from government departments and other organisations, the HSRC has made a similar capacity available to external organisations. The IEC requested a module of questions on the State of Democracy in the 2012 round of SASAS. Some of the core questions from the SASAS module which is standard and has been asked since 2003 have also formed part of the analysis. This report is a tabular report and gives frequencies of all the questions asked as well as cross tabulations of all the questions by age group, sex, population group, educational attainment, living standard measure, province and geographic subtype.
Human Sciences Research Council (Wed,) studied this question.