Polls Show Race Relations Are Stronger Than Politicians Would Lead You to Believe
South Africans are open to moving away from race-based policy.
Polling shows that South Africans are far less preoccupied with race than the country’s political debate suggests.
Despite years of racial political rhetoric, polling consistently shows that most South Africans respect one another, value merit over race, and believe the country’s future depends on working together.
For anyone judging South Africa solely by political debate or social media, it would be easy to conclude that the country is becoming increasingly divided along racial lines. Yet more than a decade of polling tells a very different story.
Surveys conducted by the Social Research Foundation (SRF) and the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), a Johannesburg-based think tank, consistently show that South Africans’ priorities are jobs, crime, corruption, education, and economic growth. Race and racism rank near the bottom of the list.
South Africans are also open to moving away from policy based around race.
The IRR first demonstrated this clearly in 2016. Respondents were asked whether they agreed that “the different races need each other and there should be full opportunity for people of all races”. An overwhelming 85.4% agreed, with strong support across every major racial group.
The same survey found that 82.2% of respondents agreed that better education and more jobs would ultimately reduce inequality between races, suggesting that most South Africans see economic opportunity, rather than racial conflict, as the key to building a more equal society.
The survey also revealed how differently ordinary South Africans view the country’s problems compared with its political discourse. When asked to identify South Africa’s biggest unresolved issues, only 4.7% selected racism. Unemployment, crime, and corruption ranked far ahead.
Nearly a decade later, the findings remain remarkably consistent. An SRF survey conducted in late 2024 found that jobs, illegal immigration, crime, and corruption remained voters’ dominant concerns, while just 2.2% identified racism as a priority.
In the SRF’s most recent polling, conducted in 2026, only 1.1% of respondents identified racism as a priority.
Other SRF polling shows similar attitudes towards race-based policy. In 2023, some 87% agreed that government should appoint the best candidates regardless of race. In that same survey, more than 80% of respondents, including more than three quarters of black respondents, disagreed with the statement that South Africa would be better off if white people left the country.
Ahead of the 2024 election, the SRF tested public attitudes towards race-based appointments in a future coalition government. Respondents were presented with two alternatives, one making race-based appointment rules stricter and another abolishing race-based appointments in favour of merit. Nearly three quarters supported the merit-based option.
More recent IRR polling from 2026 points in the same direction. Respondents were asked whether government should continue using apartheid-era racial classifications to determine who qualifies for jobs and business opportunities. Seven in 10 said it should not.
The IRR also asked whether it was important that South Africa’s president be black. Two thirds said they would support the best candidate for the job regardless of race.
In the same survey, nearly 90% once again agreed that South Africa’s different races need one another for progress, and that people of all races should enjoy equal opportunity.
The SRF reached a similar conclusion in that same year when it tested public support for replacing black economic empowerment with an empowerment policy based on poverty rather than race. Respondents were told that such a policy would direct assistance to those most in need, regardless of race. Sixty-seven percent supported the proposal.
Taken together, these findings reveal a striking disconnect between South Africa’s political conversation and public opinion. Political rhetoric often presents race as the country’s defining issue. South Africans themselves consistently identify employment, safety, economic opportunity, and competent government as far more pressing concerns.
None of this suggests that racism has disappeared or that racial tensions do not still exist. It does suggest, however, that South Africans are considerably less divided than what some politicians would claim. Across multiple surveys spanning almost a decade, the evidence consistently shows that the overwhelming majority of South Africans want a country built on cooperation, opportunity, and merit rather than one defined by race.
