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‘The Economist’ revises down Prabowo’s electability to 47%
The renowned publication has revised down its figure for Prabowo Subianto in an article that originally showed the presidential front-runner polling at 50 percent for a potential single-round victory, which had sparked some criticism from local pollsters.
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An official from the Pontianak General Elections Commission (KPU) inspects a braille ballot paper for the 2024 presidential election on Jan. 26 at an election materials warehouse in the West Kalimantan capital.
(Antara/Jessica Wuysang)
British weekly The Economist has revised down presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s electability in an online article published last Wednesday to show that he is averaging 47 percent from a range of between 42 and 52 percent in the latest opinion surveys.
Titled “Who will be the next president of Indonesia?”, the graph in the original article showed Prabowo leading the surveys with an average of 50 percent, followed by rival candidates Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan averaging 23 and 21 percent, respectively.
The article was updated initially on Thursday to show Prabowo still leading public opinion with 47 percent, with Ganjar and Anies neck and neck at 24 percent each. The article was last updated on Monday, but the figures remain unchanged.
The original figures had sparked some online criticism, including from Burhanuddin Muhtadi, executive director at pollster Indikator Politik, who expressed skepticism over the unnamed surveys The Economist used, as well as its methodology.
The article carries a source attribution at the bottom only citing “National polls; The Economist”, and an editor’s note dated Jan. 25 that reads: “This tracker has been updated to exclude polls which we do not consider reliable.”
Even if Prabowo manages to convert his 47 percent electability into actual votes on Feb. 14, he will still garner less than the 50 percent he needs to win the election in a single round. The updated figure thus suggests that the presidential election will head to the runoff set for June 26.
Read also: Presidential race remains competitive
