AI Brief
- Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's approval rating fell to 44.5% ahead of his two-year anniversary, according to a recent SMRC poll.
- The decline is attributed to dissatisfaction with economic conditions, law enforcement, and the implementation of Prabowo's flagship programmes.
- High food prices, corruption, and concerns over the free meals and village cooperatives programmes were cited as major issues by respondents.
JAKARTA: The approval rating of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto dropped further to 44.5% ahead of his two-year anniversary in office, a poll showed on Friday, with dissatisfaction over economic conditions and his flagship programmes.
- Prabowo's rating has been falling since late last year in surveys by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), with 51.1% approval in July, 66.4% in March and 81.2% in November.
- The polls had 1,213 respondents and an estimated margin of error of +/- 2.9%
The decline in the October 1-10 survey came from dissatisfaction about economic and political conditions, law enforcement and implementation of Prabowo's free meals and village cooperatives programmes, SMRC's executive director Deni Irvani said.
- The polls showed 50.8% of respondents believed economic conditions were bad and 43.1% felt they had worsened compared to last year.
- High prices of staple foods were the most mentioned problem, followed by corruption and poverty, Deni said.
- About 62% of respondents were dissatisfied with the free meals programme and 71.4% doubted Prabowo's village cooperatives policy would succeed.
- "Rather than boosting Prabowo's popularity among public, the programmes made him less appreciated. It's a paradox," Deni said.
- Prabowo's signature free meals scheme has been marred by food poisoning cases affecting more than 50,000 people, plus allegations of corruption and poor governance.
