Support for Broad-based Government Doubles in 6 Months - TIFA Report

A new opinion poll conducted by Trends and Insights for Africa (TIFA) has revealed that support for the broad-based government has doubled in six months.

In the report released on Thursday, December 18, support for the broad-based government increased from 22 percent in May to 44 percent in November.

According to the poll, 48 percent of Kenyans don’t support the broad-based government, while 8 percent have no opinion.

The report noted that public opinion toward the government is shifting away from outright opposition toward growing support.

“TIFA’s last three surveys reveal that support for the BBG has doubled (from 22% in May to 44% in November), though the “oppose” figure for August (64%) was the highest, most likely as a result of the violent suppression of protests in June and July, the memories of which (among most Kenyans, at least) may be fading, with the “oppose” figure (48%) now at its lowest level across all three surveys,” TIFA stated.

At the same time, the report disclosed that 68 percent of Kenyans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Only 17 percent feel the country is in the right direction while 12 percent feel the country is neither wrong nor right.

The majority of Kenyans who feel the country is the wrong direction are from the Mt Kenya region (83%), Lower Eastern (76%), Coast region (73%), Nairobi (73%) and South Rift (70%).

“With regard to the country’s perceived direction, The salience of political alignment is clear, in that while among those who support the BBG only half (51%) consider it to be “wrong”, this negative view is held among well over three-quarters (84%) of those who say they oppose it.

“Far more of those who have no (or declined to express any) opinion about the BBG are also largely negative about Kenya’s direction, with more than five times as many holding a negative view as those with a positive one about this (60% vs. 11%),” the report stated.

The survey was conducted from November 10 to November 17, 2025, with a sample size of 2,053 respondents.

It was conducted across 9 zones, which include: Central Rift, Coast, Lower Eastern, Mt Kenya, Nairobi, Northern, Nyanza, South Rift and Western.

In the last report released on September 24, TIFA reported that the Mt Kenya region has the lowest percentage in support of the Kenya Kwanza Broad-Based Government.

The report showed that support for the Broad-Based Government (BBG) was uneven across the country.

Only 11 per cent of respondents in the Mt Kenya region said they supported the BBG, while an overwhelming 83 percent expressed opposition.

Northern Kenya recorded the highest level of support at 61 percent, followed by President William Ruto’s home region of Central Rift with 45 percent approval.

In Nyanza, 34 per cent of respondents backed the broad-based government, while Western Kenya registered 31 percent support. Nairobi recorded 26 percent approval of the coalition arrangement.

Other regions posted lower support levels, with South Rift and Lower Eastern each at 23 percent, and the Coast region at 17 per cent. Overall, the national average support for the BBG stood at 29 percent.

The broad-based government was formalised when President Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga entered a memorandum of understanding at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in March 2025.

This partnership between the United Democratic Alliance and the Orange Democratic Movement aimed to tackle pressing national issues including debt management, corruption, and political instability.