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‘Big data’ basis for election delay balderdash, pollsters say
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo delivers a speech during the declaration of his and Ma'ruf Amin's victory in the 2019 presidential election at the General Election Commission (KPK) building in Central Jakarta on June 30, 2019. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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ollsters have slammed recent claims made by National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan that a majority of Indonesians would support an extension of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s final term in office.
The pollsters based their rebuttals on current public opinion surveys that found that a majority of people were, instead, against the idea.
Indikator Politik Indonesia executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said the organization’s survey in December of last year, which polled around 2,000 people, found that 67.2 percent of respondents wanted the presidential election to be held as scheduled in 2024.
This was consistent with its two previous surveys in November and September, which found that 69.9 percent and 64.7 percent of respondents wanted the election to go on as planned.
“Our data has been consistent from September until December. If anything, support [for a term extension for Jokowi] has gone down from September,” Burhanuddin said during a public discussion on Friday.
Read also: Experts question politicians' 'big data' claims on term extension
Indikator Politik has yet to conduct a subsequent study to determine whether the trend has continued into 2022, but Burhanuddin cited a survey taken last month by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) that found that more than half of the total 1,200 respondents opposed the idea of delaying the 2024 elections.
