Please find a corrected version, with % for DA and ANC updated.
The latest national polling ahead of Election 2026 shows that the gap between the DA and the ANC has narrowed to just seven percentage points.
According to the latest polling by the Social Research Foundation (SRF), the DA now stands at 27% nationally while the ANC has fallen to 34%.
The significance is clear: the DA is now just seven points away from becoming the biggest political party in South Africa.
The SRF’s polling ahead of the 2024 election proved highly accurate, and its latest numbers confirm the trend we are seeing across the country: the DA is growing, the ANC is declining, and South African politics is becoming intensely competitive.
This narrow gap means that the DA can win in every part of South Africa and get municipalities working for all, after the election in November.
With an all-out campaign over the coming weeks and months, the DA is well positioned to make historic gains in Election 2026 and bring good government to dozens more municipalities across South Africa.
This election is about turning national momentum into local change.
Nowhere is that opportunity clearer than in Gauteng, the central battleground of Election 2026.
The choice facing voters in this election is therefore becoming increasingly clear.
South Africans can continue with municipalities characterised by collapsing services, failing infrastructure and economic stagnation, or they can vote for a party with a proven record of getting government to work.
The DA launched our national manifesto in Johannesburg on Saturday as a pledge to the people of South Africa: with your support, good government, reliable service delivery and job creation can become the norm where you live.
Election 2026 is the opportunity to bring change that gets towns and cities across the country working for all.