WASHINGTON – As US President Barack Obama welcomes dozens of heads-of-state to Washington, DC today for the first ever US-Africa Leaders Summit, The ONE Campaign and GeoPoll are releasing the results of a new poll conducted in nine African countries over five days in July 2014 to see if the priorities of the people line up with those of their leaders. The survey sought their views of the US and President Obama’s administration, their top health concerns, and how reliable energy access and agricultural investments would benefit their communities. The survey also asked which partner – the US, EU, or China – they consider the most important for the future of their country.

Key Findings:

• Overall, the message from the African citizens surveyed is positive for the US administration. Among those polled, the US (37%) is considered Africa’s most important partner, with China (28%) not far behind, and Europe (17%) a distant third. The US was the top answer in 6 of the 9 countries. In Benin and Kenya – East Africa’s largest economy – respondents chose China as their most important partner while Tunisians chose Europe.
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of those surveyed said the US has a “big” (34%) or “some impact” (39%) on their communities. Only 11% believe the US has a “negative impact.”
• Africans surveyed listed their top concerns as Education (21%), Jobs (21%), and Security (15%). However, only 6% of respondents believe their government best addresses the issue of jobs and only 15% believe it best addresses education. On the other hand, 30% of respondents chose security as the issue best addressed by their government.

Tom Hart, US Executive Director of ONE, said:

We believe it’s important for African and US leaders meeting in Washington to hear directly from African citizens about their top priorities and the US-Africa relationship in general.

So, using SMS mobile technology powered by GeoPoll, we asked them 10 questions. We learned that Jobs, Education and Security are at the top of their list of priorities and that, overall, Africans have a very positive view of the US and believe it has a significant impact on their communities.

Since increasing access to electricity on the continent will be featured at the summit, we were interested to see that respondents believe access to energy would most help Education and Jobs – the two issues respondents cited as their top concerns overall. And on the heels of our successful pro-agriculture campaign in Africa, called “Do Agric,” we were delighted to see that nearly 8 in 10 Africans surveyed want their governments to invest more in the agricultural sector.

Other findings:

• 45% of respondents said President Obama was “somewhat” (25%) or “very supportive” (20%) of their top concerns, while 16% said he was “not at all.”
• President Obama’s Power Africa initiative is a key feature of the Summit. Respondents felt improved access to electricity would have the greatest impact on their personal incomes (34%) and education (25%) – which were their top two concerns overall.
• Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) Africans surveyed responded that their governments should invest more in agriculture and nearly half (45%) responded they should “invest a lot more.”
• The top three health concerns were Malaria (24%), HIV/AIDS (22%), and access to medical care (20%).

For full results, including country-by-country results and data disaggregated by age, gender, and rural/urban areas, please contact Ari Goldberg at [email protected] or 202.330.3577.

To receive survey results on your phone, text ONE to 50555.

The ONE Campaign and GeoPoll surveyed 4,500 citizens from nine African countries whose population is approximately 400 million people – one-third of the continent. The poll was conducted over five days in July 2014 using GeoPoll’s mobile phone-based SMS survey platform. In each country, 400 individuals were asked 10 questions. The countries include: Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Benin, and Nigeria. In each country, the estimated margin of error is plus/minus 4.4% at the 95% confidence level.

GeoPoll is the world’s largest real-time mobile survey platform, reaching a growing network of more than 150 million users worldwide through text message, voice, and web communications, enabling data collection on an extremely granular level.