They were among the lowest on a list of 15 prospective presidential candidates in the latest national survey by Indikator Politik Indonesia, which polled 1,220 eligible voters aged 17 and above from July 30 to Aug. 4, weeks after their billboards began to pop up in numerous places.

The survey found the electability rating of Airlangga -- also the coordinating economic minister -- was now at 1.1 percent, slightly higher than 0.2 percent in April, while that of Puan -- also the House of Representatives speaker -- was at 0.4 percent, decreasing from 1.1 percent in the same period.

Indikator executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi said the effect of billboards varied between political figures. In the case of Puan, he said, it failed to increase her electability because she was already relatively well known to the public before her billboards were installed.

"Puan’s electability is going down. This is interesting since the survey was conducted after lots of banners and billboards were installed everywhere," Burhanuddin said during the launch of the survey result last week. He said Puan should have tried to draw positive sentiment instead of relying on billboards.

On the other hand, billboard early campaigning had a somewhat positive effect for Airlangga, who was not as well known to the general public as Puan, said Burhanuddin.

Read also: Early election campaigning draws ire in pandemic-stricken Indonesia

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