JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Indonesian public's satisfaction with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla is continuously declining, according to a survey conducted by Indo Barometer.
Indo Barometer's survey, released on Thursday (Oct 8), showed that public satisfaction with Mr Joko is only 46 per cent in September, down from 57.5 per cent in March. Meanwhile, public satisfaction with Mr Kalla is currently 42.1 per cent, down from 53.3 per cent.
Indo Barometer executive director M. Qodari explained that most respondents were not satisfied with the government's economic performance.
"The public pays serious attention to the economy. When asked about the failures of the Jokowi-Kalla administration, the four top answers related to the economy," said Mr Qodari as reported by kompas.com on Thursday.
Similarly, the public satisfaction rate with Cabinet ministers declined to 37.1 per cent, down from 46.8 per cent in March.
According to the survey, 17.3 per cent of respondents said that the government failed to maintain the price of basic commodities, 13.3 per cent of respondents said the government failed to solve the country's economic problems, 7.4 per cent of respondents said the government failed to prevent the rupiah from weakening and 4.1 per cent said that the government has failed to maintain fuel prices.
Respondents also think that Mr Joko failed to create jobs, failed to control his ministers and failed to fight against corruption.
Meanwhile, those who are happy with the government's performance said that it has been successful with its health and education programmes and its fight against narcotics.
The survey was held Sept 14-22 in 34 provinces involving 1,200 respondents, with 95 per cent confidence and a 3 per cent error margin.
Jokowi and Kalla were inaugurated as President and Vice-President on Oct 20 after winning last year's presidential election. The pair garnered 53.15 per cent of votes, beating Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Rajasa, who won 46.85 per cent.
