Poltracking Survey: MBG Program Supports Public Satisfaction with Government Performance

JAKARTA - The free nutritious meal program (MBG) is the main support for public satisfaction with the performance of the government of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, based on the results of the Poltracking Indonesia survey.

"Both those who support and those who are against this MBG program. So if we look at it, the reason why the public is satisfied with the Prabowo-Gibran government, 23 percent is supported by satisfaction with free nutritious meals," said Poltracking Indonesia's Principal Researcher Masduri Amrawi as reported by ANTARA, Monday, April 13.

"I say that the program contributes significantly to the positive perception of the public, even in the midst of differences in public opinion," he said.

"So in the midst of controversy and differences of opinion regarding this program, it turns out that the public in general has received quite good attention," he said.

In addition to supporting satisfaction, MBG is also a program that is most felt by the community with a recognition rate of 36.5 percent, surpassing a number of other priority programs such as wage subsidy assistance (BSU), free health services, the Indonesian Smart Card (KIP) and the Indonesian Healthy Card (KIS).

This finding shows that programs that target people's basic needs have a direct impact on public perceptions, especially for the lower middle class as the main beneficiaries.

However, the level of satisfaction with MBG is considered not fully optimal compared to its high level of recognition in the community.

Masduri emphasized the need to strengthen the implementation and communication of programs so that the benefits can be felt widely.

"However, even though 88 percent of the public knows about the MBG program, the satisfaction rate is only 55.5 percent, so communication and improvement of implementation are needed," he said.

The survey also noted other factors that support public satisfaction, including government assistance that is considered targeted at 13.8 percent, as well as perceptions of firm leadership, economic stability, and health service guarantees.

The survey also noted that the social assistance program that the public received the most was the Family Hope Program (PKH) at 29.8 percent and rice assistance at 29.5 percent, indicating that the two programs were the backbone of the government's social intervention.

This condition is a note for the government to expand the distribution of the program and improve the quality of implementation, so that the benefits of the policy can be felt more evenly across all levels of society.

The Indonesian Poltracking survey institution released the results of evaluating the performance of the government and national priority programs by emphasizing the transparency of the methodology as the basis for the validity of the findings.

The survey was conducted on March 2-8, 2026, with 1,220 respondents who are Indonesian citizens aged 17 years or older or married, using the "stratified multistage random sampling" method with a "margin of error" of 2.9 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.

Data collection was carried out through face-to-face interviews by trained enumerators with sampling units from the village/subdistrict level to individual respondents.

Validation is carried out by comparing the 2020 Central Statistics Agency census data and sample weighting. Quality control includes a "spot check" of 20 percent of the sample, re-verification via telephone, and the use of an application-based "real-time" system equipped with photos and geolocation to ensure data accuracy.