Prabowo Is Still A Champion In Political Surveys, But There Are New Figures Who Strengthen For The 2024 Presidential Election

JAKARTA - For the umpteenth time, Secretary General of Gerindra Ahmad Muzani has echoed the plan for Prabowo Subianto's 2024 presidential candidacy. If he really runs, this will be the third time for Prabowo to compete as a presidential candidate after running 2 times and losing in the previous presidential election against Joko Widodo.

"I say, in 2024, Pak Prabowo, God willing, will advance in the presidential election. His progress is because of the massive demand from us all, the people's expectations are high, development must continue, our ideals as a party have not been realized," said Muzani.

Muzani said that in the 2019 presidential election, Prabowo as a presidential candidate managed to win in South Sulawesi with a percentage of 57 percent.

For this reason, he asked all administrators of the DPD, DPC, PAC to branches in South Sulawesi to close ranks so that the target of winning the presidential election with the target of 65 percent of the vote could be achieved.

"Our determination to win Pak Prabowo in 2024 must be greater, I respectfully request that no members of the South Sulawesi DPRD cause us to lose," he said.

But the determination made by Gerindra can be compared with the results of a political survey. A number of sigi results show that Prabowo Subianto is still the champion.

However, new figures who are emerging from a national perspective—at least in terms of electability—are ready to jump one more time in front of taking public support positions than Prabowo.

This condition is illustrated by a recent survey from Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), which noted that public support for the General Chairperson of Gerindra, Prabowo Subianto, to become president has decreased. Meanwhile, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo and DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan experienced increased public support.

"Prabowo received 18.1 percent support, followed by Ganjar Pranowo 15.8 percent and Anies Baswedan 11.1 percent," said SMRC Research Director, Deni Irvani, in the release of a public opinion survey entitled 'Parties and Presidential Candidates: Trends in Voters' Attitudes Towards 2024 ' in Jakarta, Thursday, October 7th.

Meanwhile, he continued, Minister Sandiaga Uno got 4.8 percent, and other names under 4 percent. "There are 16.3 percent who do not answer or do not know," he continued.

Deni explained, from March 2020 to September 2021, support for Ganjar Pranowo in the semi-open simulation rose from 6.9 percent to 15.8 percent. Meanwhile, support for Anies Baswedan rose slightly from 10.1 percent to 11.1 percent.

"Meanwhile, support for Prabowo Subianto tends to weaken from 19.5 percent to 18.1 percent," he said.

Gerindra is said to have to calculate carefully if it really carries Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential election.

Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO), Dedi Kurnia Syah, said that although Prabowo won in various survey institutions, the electability of the defense minister had tended to stagnate and even declined recently.

"Prabowo is already in a very stagnant stage, while Sandiaga Uno is still quite dynamic and has the opportunity to leave Prabowo Subianto far away," said Dedi to VOI, Tuesday, October 5.

In the findings of the IPO itself on August 2-10, he continued, Sandiaga had left Prabowo both in terms of popularity and electability.

"This means that Gerindra must be really mature. If Gerindra re-submits Prabowo and no longer carries Sandiaga, the chances of losing are greater than carrying Sandiaga," explained Dedi.

The trend in the 2024 presidential election, emphasized by Dedi, is a moment for new figures. For example, Anies Baswedan, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), Erick Tohir, Ganjar Pranowo, are new names that in the public's mind have never entered a contest.

"If Prabowo is the only person who is the most senior in the arena of contestation, people tend to forget. And this is talking about data, meaning that there has been a downward trend towards Prabowo Subianto," explained Dedi.