In His Final Year in Office, President Jokowi Remains Extremely Popular

In general, a president in his final year in office, particularly during his second term, is worn down. The level of public approval for him continued to decline. In the case of Jokowi, however, this did not occur. In his final year in office, the public's approval of Jokowi remains exceptionally high.

We begin with the data. This is the May to August 2023 LSI Denny JA survey. Each month in 2023, a monitoring survey is conducted.

The level of public satisfaction with Jokowi ranges from 76.2% to 80%. This rating is very high. This is a very unexpected circumstance. How can we explain it? What makes Jokowi popular and satisfies his constituents? Obviously, this is the opinion of a great number of individuals, based on their observations of Jokowi's performance and his engaging personality.

Performance-wise, the general public experiences the advantages of, for instance, BPJS. How can their health care costs be so reliably covered at low or no cost?

The populace is content with both health and education. Also for social aid, particularly during the three-year Covid-19 crisis. The public has a fairly positive view of social assistance programs, notwithstanding the fact that there are some funding leaks.

There will undoubtedly continue to be critics of Jokowi, particularly among the educated. However, less than 10% of Indonesia's population is educated. The records of educated groups are crucial in terms of quality. But in measuring approval ratings, it is not the quality but the quantity of opinions that counts.

His personality is another distinguishing feature of Jokowi. The populace believes that Jokowi cares about his constituents. They believe that Jokowi's concern is genuine, not artificial or performed.

Jokowi is also regarded as modest and courteous. Personality impression also has a significant impact on approval ratings and public satisfaction. Regarding Jokowi's disposition, Denny J.A can speak from personal experience.

At the end of July 2023, a presidential staffer contacted him. The staffer said, "Mr. Denny, Mr. President, desired to converse and meet if you were available." Denny then drove directly to the palace. At the end of the table, by himself, sat President Jokowi. Jokowi's first words were, "I apologize if this interrupts your day off."

Denny responded, "Absolutely not, Mr. President. It would be an honor to be summoned by a president."

They also had 30-45 minutes of one-on-one conversations. Jokowi appeared to be courteous and modest, as he listened, asked questions, and took notes. He sought information from various sources regarding the aspirations of the people. Jokowi believes that, based on the results of the LSI Denny JA survey, Denny has sufficient knowledge of public opinion from Aceh to Papua.

Denny was impressed by the authenticity of Persident Jokowi's attitude. The current president feels modest and courteous, not fabricated for the sake of appearance, for instance. This genuinely increases Jokowi's standing in the eyes of the general public.

We hope that Jokowi persists in this manner. He concluded his presidency with a happy ending. This is a novel tradition, in contrast to all previous Indonesian presidents whose terms ended in sorrow.

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A survey was conducted on 1,200 respondents on a national scale with multi-stage random sampling. The margin of error is 2.9%

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Ekspresi Data Denny J.A, 2023