Bobby Nasution Is The Most Popular Candidate For Governor In The 2024 North Sumatra Pilkada, Teguh Santosa Is The Favorite Of The Deputy Governor

Bobby Nasution is a candidate for Governor of North Sumatra. (IST)

JAKARTA - The latest survey released by the Indonesian Election Study Institute (LKPI) shows that Bobby Nasution, the former Mayor of Medan and President Joko Widodo's son-in-law, are in the top position in the competition for a candidate for governor. Meanwhile, Teguh Santosa appeared as the main favorite for the deputy governor position.

The survey involved 1,820 respondents from North Sumatra who already have the right to vote in the 2024 Pilkada and spread across 33 regencies/cities from May 20 to 31, 2024. In this survey, it was revealed that 53.2 percent of the people were satisfied with the performance of the North Sumatra Provincial Government. However, this survey also shows a low public awareness of the 2024 Pilkada, where only 49.7 percent of respondents are aware of the simultaneous regional elections this year.

Bobby Nasution leads in several main indicators. His recognition rate reached 76.6 percent, only slightly below the former Governor of North Sumatra, Eddy Rachmayadi, which reached 77.8 percent. However, in terms of public revenue, Bobby Nasution won with 68.8 percent compared to Eddy who got 67.9 percent.

In the simulation of closed questions regarding the electability of the governor candidate, Bobby Nasution also occupies the top position with 36.2 percent, followed by Eddy Rachmayadi with 23.7 percent and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama with 20.1 percent.

"Taking samples using the multistage random sampling method in the population of the final voter list of the 2024 elections," said LKPI Executive Director, Togu Lubis in a written statement regarding the results of the survey Wednesday, June 5. Furthermore, Togu said, 'This survey has a Margin of Error +/- 2.3% and a 95% Confidence Level'.

On the other hand, Teguh Santosa, a former Deputy Chancellor of UBK and a lecturer at UIN Jakarta from the Democratic Party, showed strong performance as a candidate for deputy governor. Although his recognition rate was at 48.2 percent, Teguh managed to occupy the first position in the top of the voter's mind for deputy governor candidates with 23.6 percent.

In terms of electability, Teguh, who is also a senior journalist, is also at the peak with 27.6 percent, beating DPR artist and member Charles Bonar Sirait who earned 26.8 percent and Azhari Tambunan with 16.7 percent. The high level of electability shows that Teguh Santosa has a strong appeal among voters who know him.

This survey confirms that Bobby Nasution and Teguh Santosa are a potentially strong couple to win the 2024 North Sumatra Pilkada. Bobby with his high popularity and acceptance as a candidate for governor, and Teguh with electability that stands out as a candidate for deputy governor, making them an attractive combination for North Sumatra voters.

However, challenges still exist, especially in increasing the political literacy of the people of North Sumatra. With more than half of respondents not aware of the 2024 Pilkada, efforts to socialize and educate politics are very important to ensure high voter participation and healthy democracy.

"The survey results also show that North Sumatra's literacy in the simultaneous regional elections in 2024 is still very low. This was answered in the survey findings that only 49.7 percent of the people who stated that they knew about the regional elections were only 49.7 percent, the remaining 50.3 percent did not know," said Togu Lubis.