Though Jokowi remains the frontrunner, the Indikator national survey, conducted between April 20-26 among 1,220 Indonesians eligible to vote with a margin of error of 2.9 percent, shows Prabowo Subianto has gained ground on the Jakarta governor.

According to the survey, 31.8 percent of respondents ranked Jokowi the most electable presidential candidate, followed by Prabowo with 19.8 percent. The change for Jokowi from the March Indikator Politik survey, in which 32.5 percent ranked him first, fell within the margin of error. Prabowo, however, gained considerably from 11.4 percent in the March survey.

'€œJokowi'€™s electability has tended to be stagnant and even decline. The most interesting thing is that Prabowo's approval has increased significantly,'€ Indikator Politik Indonesia executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said in Jakarta on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

In the same survey, when presented with 14 names of potential presidential candidates, 39.7 percent of respondents said they would pick Jokowi, while 23.8 percent said Prabowo. In March, 45.6 percent said they would vote for Jokowi and 15.1 percent said Prabowo.

In a simulation of three presidential candidates, Jokowi ranked first with 45.5 percent saying they would vote for him, followed by Prabowo (30.11 percent) and Aburizal Bakrie (11.6 percent).

'€œIn March'€™s survey [of the three-horse simulation], it was predicted that Jokowi could win only in one round as he was favored by 55.7 percent while Prabowo was only at 20 percent,'€ said Burhan.

'€œLooking at the new data, Jokowi'€™s position is not yet safe, although Prabowo'€™s chances are not yet too encouraging." (dhi/ebf)

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