fair elections are in the offing, yet express similar levels of fear of electoral violence and intimidation as
they had in the past.
The 2012 survey results illuminate the complex and in‐flux current positions that Zimbabweans hold.
Results are not always what might have been expected, but in the context ofwhat Zimbabwe is today
the nuanced picture that emerges from the FH 2012 survey makes sense.
Methodology
This section relates essential details of the polling process that generated the data for this report. The
process was a cooperative endeavour between Freedom House, Susan Booysen, and the Mass Public
Opinion Institute (MPOI), Harare, Zimbabwe. Ongoing political volatility and potential dangers to both
researcher‐interviewers in the field, and the survey respondents, were continuous considerations in the
drafting of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire dealt with the issues of continuous transition and gradual political change in
Zimbabwe, circa 2012. It was constructed after an extensive set of consultative discussions with civil
society in Zimbabwe. The questionnaire centred on general socio‐political‐economic attitudes
(experiences and expectations regarding the nature and extent of change in contemporary Zimbabwe);
Zimbabweans’ assessments of the Inclusive Government (IG) (issues of power‐sharing vis‐à‐vis elections,
the performance of the IG); trends in the final phases of the constitutional reform proves (the need for
constitutional change, experiences of the COPAC process; expectations of the contents and directions of
the new constitution, content and process); elections and voting actions (timing, expectations of future
elections, the order of elections and constitution‐making, violence and elections, voter registration and
confidence in electoral authorities including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the
Registrar‐General; political interest and media use; and ‘the vote’ along with the inclination not to reveal
party support.
The Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) was responsible for sample design, fieldworker training,
implementation of the fieldwork, and data entry. MPOI (see MPOI Fieldwork Report of 20 July 2012)
applied a random selection method at every stage of sampling and also a probability proportionate to
population size wherever possible. An achieved sample size of 1,198 (allowing a margin of error of plus
or minus 2.8% at the 95% level of confidence) enabled population inferences. The sample was stratified
first by province and secondly by rural/urban distinctions within provinces. In total 100 Enumeration
Areas (EAs) were sampled with the latter subdivided into 63 rural and 37 urban enumeration areas. The
allocation of the sample was consistent with Zimbabwe’s urban and rural population projections for
2011 in which the rural population is about 63% of the total population. 12 interviews were conducted
in each enumeration area. To achieve gender parity interviews were alternated between male and
female respondents in each EA, thus at the end of the survey gender representation was equally split
with 599 interviews constituted by males and the balance comprising females.
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