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Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867614109740040192 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Schwegmann, Tayla Ann |
| author2 | Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette |
| author_browse | Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette Schwegmann, Tayla Ann |
| author_facet | Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette Schwegmann, Tayla Ann |
| author_sort | Schwegmann, Tayla Ann |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135877 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:49.061Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135877 Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters Schwegmann, Tayla Ann Schulz-Herzenberg, Collette Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science. Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Schwegmann, T. A. 2026. Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/e6e10457-a37c-4727-a937-bedbc89ebd4c In recent decades, a fresh wave of populist movements has surfaced globally, presenting substantial political shifts across liberal democracies. Contemporary populism is understood as a ‘thin-centred ideology’ characterised by its people-centrism, anti-establishment/anti-elite sentiments, and a Manichean worldview that divides society into two opposing groups: the virtuous people and the corrupt elite. Additionally, contemporary populist movements have largely embraced nativist and anti-immigration sentiments that appeal to disillusioned masses. Scholars’ populist investigations are largely concerned with their developments in the Global North: however, similar dynamics are increasingly evident in the Global South. In the African context, populist phenomena have presented a comparable challenge to democratising countries. This is exemplified in the South African context by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a party that has experienced steady electoral growth over the past decade. The South African populist literature has largely focused on the supply-side of the EFF’s populist politics, particularly the party’s populist strategies and rhetoric, whereas the extent of its supporters’ populist and nativist demand remains undetermined. Thus, the study addresses this research gap by investigating the extent to which populist and nativist attitudes determined EFF support for the populist party in the 2019 national election. The study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional research design to analyse public survey data from the 2019 South African Comparative National Elections Project (CNEP) survey to examine the relationship between respondents’ 2019 vote choice and a series of explanatory variables derived from the global voting behaviour literature: populist attitudes, nativist attitudes, performance evaluations, psychological indicators, and demographic variables. The study’s findings indicate that the EFF’s 2019 electoral support was primarily determined by voters’ performance evaluations of the three largest political parties and their leaders. Further, the results indicate that populist and nativist attitudes have limited explanatory power when it comes to voting behaviour in the 2019 national election. Instead, a percentage of disgruntled ANC supporters switched their support from the governing party, with supporters viewing the EFF as the “lesser of two evils” when compared to the DA. Nonetheless, when compared to populist attitudes, nativist attitudes, particularly that which opposes multiculturalism, were stronger predictors of voting behaviour. In addition, a closer investigation into the EFF supporters’ demographic profile revealed a potential misalignment between the party’s ideological rhetoric and its support base. Overall, findings suggest that South Africans’ voting behaviour across the three main political parties in the 2019 elections was mostly influenced by their dissatisfaction with the ANC’s governance and performance rather than a set of populist and nativist attitudes. However, continued poor governance provides impetus for the emergence of radical populist alternatives that challenge the country’s democratic consolidation. Masters 2026-04-14T07:40:33Z 2026-04-14T07:40:33Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135877 en Stellenbosch University 147 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Schwegmann, Tayla Ann Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title | Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title_full | Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title_fullStr | Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title_short | Discontented Voters or Populists?: Investigating Populist Attitudes Among the Economic Freedom Fighters’ Supporters |
| title_sort | discontented voters or populists investigating populist attitudes among the economic freedom fighters supporters |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135877 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT schwegmanntaylaann discontentedvotersorpopulistsinvestigatingpopulistattitudesamongtheeconomicfreedomfighterssupporters |