Afrobarometer: Round II Survey of South Africa, 2002 Version 2

The Afrobarometer project was designed to assess attitudes toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan African nations, and to track the evolution of such attitudes in those nations over time. This particular survey was concerned with the attitudes and opinions of the citizens of South Africa. Respondents were asked to rate South Africa's President Mbeki and his administration's overall performance, and to state the most important issues facing the nation. Opinions were gathered on the role of the government in improving the economy, whether corruption existed in local and national government, whether government officials were responsive to problems of the general population, and whether local government officials, the police, the courts, the overall criminal justice system, the media, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the government broadcasting service could be trusted. Respondents were polled on their knowledge of government officials, their level of personal involvement in political, governmental, and community affairs, and the inclusiveness of the government. Respondents were asked to grade the way the country was governed under Apartheid, the current system of government, and the political system of the country as they expected it to be in 10 years. Economic questions addressed the past, present, and future of the country's and the respondent's economic condition, and whether great income disparities are fair. Societal questions addressed whether everyone should be responsible for themselves and their own success or failure, what characteristics respondents used to identify themselves, whether it was easy to obtain assistance with securing food, water, schooling, and medical services, and by what methods respondents did so. Background variables include age, language spoken most at home, education, current employment status, employment status over the last 12 months, employment history, family financial situation over the last 12 months, monetary support system, whether a close friend or relative had died from AIDS, language used in interview, sex, ethnicity, religious affiliation, religious participation, type of physical disability (if any), type of housing, and respondent's attitude during the interview. Weighting variable, WITHINWT, adjusts the distribution of the sample to account for oversamples or undersamples with respect to province and race. See codebook for details. Response Rates: Approximately 90 percent. National probability sample. Datasets: DS1: Afrobarometer: Round II Survey of South Africa, 2002 Citizens of South Africa aged 18 years and older. (1) This survey was administered in all provinces of South Africa in proportion to the relative size of each province and racial group in the national population. (2) To preserve respondent confidentiality, the variable DISTRICT has been recoded to "BLANKED". (3) The dates in the data file for variable DATEINTR are not consistent with the dates listed in the codebook for this variable. (4) In producing the full product-suite of files, variables DATEINTR, STRTIME, and ENDTIME have been changed from date to string variables. As a result, they have moved from their original positions in the data file to the end of the variable list. (5) Additional information about the Afrobarometer Survey can be found at the Afrobarometer Web site.