A national survey through Computer-Assisted Self Interviewing (CASI) system, held on September 19-23, 2024, showed a decline in approval rating of outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, but exhibited optimistic views on the new State leadership under elected President Prabowo Subianto.
In a scale 1-10, the Survei Nasional Kawula by Kawula 17 survey institution shows that Jokowi’s approval rating dropped from 5.7 in the second quarter of 2024 to 5.4 in the third quarter of 2024.
“It is without reason, this red score [of Jokowi] is likely due to the fact that people think there are still many core problems that have not been resolved properly by the government,” Oktafia Kusuma, a Research Fellow at Kawula 17, said in a statement on Thursday, October 31, 2024.
The respondents considered Jokowi as having huge obstacle in solving problems of economy, unemployment, poverty and corruption during his terms in office. Ninety percent of them considered Jokowi’s performance on those priority issues, particularly on corruption, as very bad.
“Jokowi’s government did not solve big corruption cases or their investigation did not proceed as expected. Those can be one of the factors that worsened the image of the Jokowi government in the eyes of the people,” Oktafia said.
Other issue that is crucial enough and contributes to Jokowi’s bad grade is poverty alleviation (68 percent). Despite the fact that there were many social assistance programs, they are not enough to reduce poverty rate in Indonesia. “Jokowi’s government did not do enough to meet people’s needs of employment in line with the increasing number of the work force.”
Optimism on Prabowo’s government
In contrast to the various challenges faced by the Jokowi administration, respondents think they see the future in the new government of Prabowo Subianto.
Almost half of the correspondents (45 percent) believed that Prabowo could realize his campaign promises. Interestingly, optimism rate on Prabowo tends to be higher in people of 35-44 years old (59 percent) and among societal groups who are actively involved in political activities (62 percent).
The optimism rate jumped 7 percent from 38 percent in the second quarter of 2024 to 45 percent in third quarter of 2024.
“In the third quarter, people’s optimism is encouraged by Prabowo’s image as a figure who is firm, brave, respected and has strong support from various political groups and elements of society,” Oktafia said.
The survey, however, was of the opinion that the Prabowo government will not be free from challenges, especially in meeting people’s expectations. In addition to eradicating corruption, the main obstacle to solve economic problems, such as deflation, which has an impact on massive layoffs that contribute to high unemployment and poverty rates, should also be the main focus of the new government to solve.
In terms of the environment, people rated waste management as the most important environmental issue in the third quarter (38 percent), followed by flooding (31 percent) and air pollution (29 percent). Other issues were river pollution (24 percent), industrial waste disposal (22 percent) and crop failure (22 percent).
