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mong the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the running for the 2019 election, former Jakarta deputy governor Sandiaga Uno seems the most active on the campaign trail so far.

Even before the campaign period officially started last month, Sandiaga had made visits to quake survivors in Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara, and spoke to entrepreneurs in South Sulawesi.

Since then he has made numerous trips to various towns and cities in Central, East and West Java, as well as Yogyakarta and Lampung, mostly visiting traditional markets, pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and events about entrepreneurship.

At his campaign stops, Sandiaga has consistently repeated his team’s economic message, emphasizing his focus on price stabilization and job creation.

“We want Indonesians, especially the middle-class and below to be able to enjoy more affordable prices coupled with good food quality,” he posted on Twitter on Monday after a visit to Kuningan, West Java.

In contrast, Sandiaga’s running mate, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto, has more often than not stuck to Jakarta, with only a few visits to Surakarta and Semarang in Central Java and Sukabumi, West Java, over the last month.

Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Andi Arief has even said that Sandiaga seemed to be more serious about running for the presidency than Prabowo.

“This is a self-criticism: If we look at how they’re campaigning, who actually wants to be president, Sandiaga or Prabowo? I get the impression that Prabowo is not really serious about becoming president,” Andi tweeted recently.

Fellow Democratic Party executive and Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team member Ferdinand Hutahaean brushed off Andi’s comments as a well-meaning appraisal by a campaign outsider.

He said that Sandiaga’s packed campaign trail was in fact part of the campaign team’s strategy.

“Right now, we are looking to gain votes from emak-emak, which is why Sandiaga has mostly been visiting markets to meet women and vendors, and sometimes also meeting millennials,” Ferdinand said, using a colloquial term for mothers whose role is often confined to household work.

“This is a long rally, over six months, so we do not want to be too aggressive in the beginning only to lose steam at the end.”

Gerindra executive Sugiono also leapt to Prabowo’s defense, issuing a statement on Monday saying that the former general had his own campaign style.

“Prabowo has his own method and style of campaigning, and campaigning in an election does not always mean having to appear in public just to build an image,” Sugiono said. “The important thing is to formulate and design a strategy to create a just and prosperous Indonesia that can be implemented if he is elected.”

Despite Sandiaga’s best efforts, the latest polls show that most voters are not swayed by vice-presidential candidates and place more importance in the top of the ticket.

A poll conducted by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) between Sept. 7 to 14, for example, found that both Sandiaga and rival Ma’ruf Amin had yet to significantly boost support for their respective running mates.

The Prabowo-Sandiaga pair were supported by 29.8 percent of respondents, while President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Ma’ruf won support from 60.4 percent of respondents, not much different from the 28.7 and 60.2 percent support garnered by Prabowo and Jokowi on their own.

Paramadina University political observer Hendri Satrio said that while vice-presidential candidates could have a larger impact than reflected in recent polls, Prabowo still needed to take a more active hand in campaigning.

“Prabowo cannot just rely on Sandiaga because he could be in danger of being forgotten during the long campaign period,” he said, adding that Prabowo’s absence could fuel further speculation about the candidate’s desire to win.