The DA has opened a wide lead over the ANC in Johannesburg, but not nearly enough to avoid another five years of coalition government in the City of Gold, the eNCA MarkData poll has established.
And in Cape Town, the DA will have to ensure all its supporters cast their votes if its overall majority is to be maintained.
The relevant full results of the poll was announced and analysed in a live broadcast on eNCA this morning. It was conducted between 12 August and 10 September among a scientifically selected representative sample of a thousand registered voters per metro who intend to vote.
The margin of error for Johannesburg is 3,08%, and for Cape Town 3,09%. The modelled turn-out is 48.8%. For more on the methodology used in the poll, please click here.
The poll has found that the DA leads the ANC by 35% to 21,8% in Johannesburg. Other parties polling strongly include the MK Party on 12,5%, the EFF on 11.9% and Action SA on 10,3%, with the Patriotic Alliance much further back on 3,7% as the only other party favoured by more than 1% of respondents.
Helen Zille (DA) is the most popular of the mayoral candidates at 30,6%, followed by Action SA leader and former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba on 23,4%. With the ANC thus far unable to announce a candidate, voters were given several options. Of the ANC hopefuls listed, current mayor Dada Morero came out tops on 15%, far behind Zille and Mashaba.
For the full relevant Johannesburg poll results, please click here.
In Cape Town, the poll measured DA support on 52.6%, followed by the ANC at 23,6%, and the EFF beating the Patriotic Alliance, who will hope to do much better in the Western Cape rural areas, because PA numbers in the City of Cape Town are surprisingly weak.
EFF support in Cape Town is 6,5%, with the PA on 3,9% and the MK Party on 1,5%. No other party polls above 1% in Cape Town.
Current Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis (DA) is even more popular than his party, with 55,4% of Capetonians polled wanting to see him back in office. No candidate from another party is close to polling in the double digits.
READ: How will the metros vote? First eNCA MarkData poll results out Sunday
The eNCA MarkData polls also measured voter preference on hot button local issues like rate increases and gangsterism in Cape Town, and water issues and xenophobia in Johannesburg.
The voter preference regarding the proposed wall along the N2 in Cape Town yielded an astounding result, with 69,6% of respondents in favour of it, and only 19,9% against. Fully 45.3% of respondents blamed the national government for Cape Town gangsterism, with 25,3% blaming the city government and 14,1% the provincial government. More than 10% blames no-one.
For the full relevant Cape Town poll results, click here.
Whereas 60,5% of Cape Town respondents believe their city is well run, the same is true for only 29,2% of Johannesburg respondents. About 36,2% of Cape Town respondents believe the Mother City is poorly run, versus 68,7% of the City of Gold respondents who believe their city to be poorly run.
About 88% of Johannesburgers believe foreigners and xenophobia to be a problem in their city, and roughly two thirds are angry at the current ANC-led coalition government about water provision and infrastructure maintenance.
Polling results for Durban’s eThekwini metro and Pretoria’s Tshwane metro will be announced next week. Last week, the polling results for Ekurhuleni (click here) and Nelson Mandela Bay (click here) were announced.