Zimpapers Logo

Herald Reporter—
PRESIDENT Mugabe would romp to victory if Presidential elections are held tomorrow, respected thinktank, Afrobarometer says in its latest survey results dated May 10, 2017.The Round 7 Survey Results, from fieldwork conducted between January 28 and February 10 this year, reveal that the majority of Zimbabweans, 56 percent, approve of the way President Mugabe has discharged his duties over the past 12 months.

• View survey results here…..

‘’President Mugabe continues to get positive ratings from Zimbabweans with above half (56 percent) saying that they approve of the way he has performed his job over the past 12 months,’’ the report reads.

Read more:

• EDITORIAL COMMENT:Tsvangirai’s empty talk deplorable
• Coalition of rejects doomed — Chombo
• Tsvangirai trashes 2018 poll ‘results’
• MDC-T divided over coalition
• Zanu-PF laughs off MoUs
• Zim Afrobarometer findings: A few points to consider
• President still tops – Survey
• President remains first choice: Survey
• President has public trust: Afrobarometer
• MPOI reaffirms President’s lead
• President’s support surges: Afrobarometer
• Afrobarometer survey: Dismiss it at your own peril
• Survey wake-up call for MDCs
• Afrobarometer’s grim news for Zim’s opposition

In its trend analysis, Afrobarometer found that MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s popularity continues to plummet from a high of 57 percent in 2009 to 16 percent this year whereas 38 percent of respondents said they would vote for President Mugabe compared to 29 percent in 2005.

Afrobarometer asked people who they would vote for if presidential elections were held tomorrow and the majority picked President Mugabe.

Morgan Tsvangirai

“Survey shows that zanu-pf has an edge if presidential elections were to be held tomorrow. Asked which party’s candidate one would vote for in a hypothetical presidential elections, a day after the survey, 38 percent said zanu-pf, 24 percent refused to answer, 16 percent said MDC-T, 11 percent said they would not vote and four percent said they would vote for a ZIMPF candidate (before the split) and two percent said they would vote for other parties,” read the report for the month of May 2017.

“Survey shows that Zanu-PF still commands support in the rural areas while a plurality (31 percent) of those who refused to answer are urban based.”

The survey found that the majority approve of the way President Mugabe has discharged his duties.

“President Mugabe continues to get positive ratings from Zimbabweans with more than half saying that they approve of the way he has performed his job over the past twelve months,” read the report’s findings.

President Mugabe got an average approval rating of at least 56 percent from all the ten provinces against a disapproval of 34 percent.

Masvingo was the highest with 74 percent approval against a 14 percent disapproval.

At least 54 percent of respondents aged above 51 years said they would vote for Zanu-PF, a paltry 11 percent indicated they would vote for the MDC-T while 38 percent of those between 36 and 50 years said they would vote for Zanu-PF.

At least 20 percent of that age preferred the MDC-T.

Of those aged between 18 and 35 years old 32 percent said they would vote for Zanu-PF while 16 percent responded that they would vote for MDC-T.

Others refused to give a response. According to the report, at least 61 percent of respondents with no formal education indicated that they would vote for Zanu-PF.

Five percent said they would vote for the MDC-T. At least 55 percent with primary school level said they would vote for Zanu-PF while 10 percent said they would vote for the MDC-T.

The pro-poor policies of President Mugabe and Zanu PF continue to endear him and the party to the majority of the people. The President has continued to champion the interests of the people through various programmes, such as Land Reform, Indigenisation, Presidential Inputs Scheme and Command Agriculture among many other programmes.