Thus, the comparative surveys delivered consistency in the respondents’ ranking of the power-sharing agreement, high general levels of approval of the IG across the periods of analysis, and consistency over time in the ranking of the top-three performance areas – availability of consumer goods, access to foreign currency and a reduction in levels of political violence. Important changes emerged lower down the rankings. There was a notable improvement in the ranking of government performance on transformation of the constitution, and distribution of food relief. Assessments of the IG declined, however, in the areas of prevention of arbitrary arrest, healing a broken nation, and observance of the rule of law. This suggests that Zimbabweans were increasingly recognising that the IG was no magic wand that would make political polarisation go away. Such ambiguity was also evident in the respondent split between assessing Zimbabwe as moving in a right or a wrong direction. Table 5: Performance of the Inclusive Government compared with the previous ZANU-PF government Performance area Rating 2009 2010 Ranking and (%) (%) Total % 2010* Making consumer goods available Better (B) 64 59 1st (97) 1st 2009 Much better (MB) 31 38 Ensuring access to foreign currency B 63 58 2nd (86) 3rd 2009 MB 14 28 Reducing political violence B 67 60 3rd (80) 2nd 2009 MB 20 20 Reforming the constitution B 42 56 4th (70) th 7 in 2009 MB 6 14 Distributing food relief B 49 47 5th (68) th 8 in 2009 MB 11 21 Preventing arbitrary arrest B 61 53 6th (66) 4th 2009 MB 12 13 Observing the rule of law B 60 51 7th (62) th 6 in 2009 MB 9 11 Attracting international B 49 45 8th (61) th investment 8 in 2009 MB 11 16 Healing a broken nation B 61 49 8th (61) 5th 2009 MB 11 12 Stopping land invasions B 51 51 8th (61) th 8 in 2009 MB 9 10 Increasing freedom to speak B 43 9th (52) openly about politics Not rated 2009 MB 9 Question: ‘How do you compare the performance of the Inclusive Government (IG) with the previous ZANU-PF government with regard to the following matters?’ [Q12] * Both surveys delivered a few joint rankings towards the lower end of the slate; the percentages in this table exclude the rest of the response categories, e.g. ‘worse’ and ‘much worse’; the reported percentages indicate the overwhelming approval rate of the IG. 23