- Pre-election wave: On average, it took interviewers around six phone calls to conduct a successful interview, with no significant differences by respondents’ age, gender, province of residence, or race.
- Post-election wave: The response rate was very high, at 89.7% of the initial respondent pool.
- Pre-election wave: A comparison with Afrobarometer’s Round 9 sample reveals similar demographic patterns. Differences in race, education, and employment status suggest that telephone interviews may improve access to groups with lower contact and cooperation rates in face-to-face interviews.
- Post-election wave: Non-participants leaned younger, employed, and urban; had higher average education levels; and were more likely to be members of hard-to-reach racial groups. However, they expressed similar political views to participants in the pre-election wave.
- Pre-election wave: Respondents took approximately 25 minutes to complete the survey, with no significant differences by age or education.
- Post-election wave: The average interview time was longer (about 30 minutes) despite the smaller number of questions, which may reflect the wave’s larger number of complex and sensitive items.
In 2024, for the first time since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) faced a realistic possibility of losing its majority amid internal party divisions and high levels of public dissatisfaction with the government’s performance on critical governance issues (Lewis, 2024; Patel, Sadie, & Klerk, 2024; Walsh, 2024). To gain insight into the dynamics of voter engagement and preferences in a watershed election year, Afrobarometer conducted the 2024 Election Panel Survey in South Africa (EPSSA), which interviewed 1,804 South Africans via telephone in April/May and August/September 2024.
For Afrobarometer, which is known for its face-to-face surveys in 45 African countries dating back to 1999, the EPSSA is a first on two fronts: It is Afrobarometer’s first panel survey, measuring citizen engagement and political attitudes by following the same group of respondents over time, and it is the first telephone survey whose findings Afrobarometer is releasing publicly.
This methods note focuses on introducing the EPSSA and its methodology; outlining how its questionnaire leverages a panel structure to identify and measure individual-level attitudinal and behavioural changes; and evaluating the reliability and validity of its findings by analysing the survey’s metadata, including response rates, the achieved survey sample’s demographic characteristics, and interview duration. Reported results are based on unweighted data unless specified.
The results underscore the effectiveness of the EPSSA’s quality-control measures in ensuring reliable data while demonstrating the value of telephone surveys in complementing face-to-face interviews, particularly by reaching hard-to-access population groups. However, the extent to which the survey’s findings would align with those obtained through Afrobarometer’s standard methodology remains uncertain. Future research could address this by conducting parallel panel surveys to assess comparability.