5 PARTY SUPPORT AND DECLARING VOTE INTENTION 5.1 Main party support trends – declared support (45) 5.2 Growing trend of non-declaration of party support (46) 5.3 Parallel indicators of core party support (46) Trust in political institutions and parties (47) Issues of party political polarisation (48) 5.4 Membership of political parties (47) Zimbabweans are notorious – albeit justifiably so – for playing party identification-association issues close to the chest. Party affiliation and voter support in Zimbabwe have been repeatedly demonstrated to be directly linked to political recrimination and retribution. The findings in this survey equally indicate the extent to which party linkage and activity expose the ‘badge carrier’ to violence, especially the opposition supporter that chooses to challenge ZANU-PF (although violence on both sides of the main party divide is well known).12 Those who quietly go their way and refrain from political engagement (and in particular opposition party engagement, as the findings show) can be quite assured of peaceful daily lives. Thus, it is not surprising that 42% in this survey exercised the option not to declare their party support. Given the potential exposure of researchers and respondents to political attacks linked to declared vote intention, the survey took care to make it clear to interviewees that they have the right to exercise ‘nondeclaration’, even if full confidentiality of responses were guaranteed. It also has to be borne in mind that some respondents may deliberately choose to misrepresent their party identification, for reasons of personal security. The survey delivers the result that the MDC-T (in terms of declared support) suffered a substantial drop in support in the time since the previous Freedom House September 2009 survey. ZANU-PF is indicated to have grown in support by 5 percentages points to 17%. The MDC-M has effectively disappeared, with an indicated support level of below 1%. The MDC-T drop is not entirely explained through the rest of the survey data. As seen in previous sections of the report, the IG is seen to have performed well, and the MDC-T is receiving substantial credit for the performance. Simultaneously, the MDC-T in the time since the previous survey has been confirmed to be the subject partner in the IG, with effective power remaining in the hands of Mugabe and the security forces. This would have dented the MDC-T 12 In recent years, MDC (and MDC-T) supporters have increasingly (although still moderately so) been more inclined to retaliate against attacks from ZANU-PF supporters. This was acknowledged, for example, in NGO interviews in September 2010 (see Susan Booysen, for FHSA, ‘Consultation Report’ in preparation for the current survey). 45