A survey by the Jakarta-based Saiful Mujani Research Institute (SMRC), released on Thursday, revealed that 38.9 percent of its 1,057 respondents would still vote for the former Jakarta governor. The study was held from Sept. 3 to 10 in all provinces in the country.

Prabowo, Jokowi’s rival in the 2014 presidential race, has to work hard to beat Jokowi, with only 12 percent of the respondents saying they would vote the former military general.

The third most-electable candidate in the survey was Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Jokowi’s predecessor, who is no longer eligible to run for president because he held the position for two terms, from 2004 to 2014.

“The support [for Jokowi] is very solid and hard to sway. Other names were not strong enough,” SMRC executive director Djayadi Hanan told reporters during the release of the study.

Although Jokowi’s electability rating was the highest among other names, the majority of the respondents had not decided or would not say who they would vote for. At least 41.9 percent of the respondents were in this category.

Jokowi’s performance might have contributed to his strong electability, the SMRC said.  At least 60 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with what Jokowi and his administration had done. In economy and family welfare, for example, 41.5 percent of the respondents said they felt their situation had improved, 32.3 percent said there had been no change and 19.78 percent said their situation had worsened. (ary)

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