A new survey indicates that more Indonesians have made up their minds about who to vote for in next April’s presidential election, although President Joko Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin still hold a comfortable lead over Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno.
The survey, carried out by pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia, seems to show that Prabowo and Sandiaga will need to work very hard indeed if they hope to overcome the incumbent.
“In the simulation between the two pairings, Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin gained 57.7% while Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno gained 32.3% of the votes,” Indikator Politik Indonesia Executive Director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said at a press conference today, as quoted by Kompas.
Both Jokowi-Ma’ruf and Prabowo-Sandiaga scored slightly higher compared to the first survey conducted by Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) right after they officially announced their candidacies in early August, signaling a decrease in undecided voters after just over a month. In LSI’s survey, 18.3% were undecided or did not wish to reveal their preferences. In Indikator’s survey, undecided voters decreased to 9% while 1% said they would abstain from voting.
Indikator’s survey also showed that respondents perceived Jokowi as having more positive traits over Prabowo, with more respondents calling the incumbent honest, caring, able to lead and religious than his rival. However, respondent were more likely to call Prabowo stern and wise than Jokowi.
When it came to their running mates, respondents conversely perceived Sandiaga as having more positive traits than Ma’ruf, particularly in their perception of him being caring, stern, wise, and able to lead. Ma’ruf, on the other hand, is seen as the more honest, trustworthy and religious candidate.
Indikator’s survey was carried out on Sept. 1-6 and involved 1,220 participants randomly selected from throughout Indonesia. The survey has a 2.9% margin of error and a 95% confidence level.
