Yudhoyono's rating rises despite scandals
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A new public opinion poll released on Sunday shows that the job approval rating for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has in fact been improving in spite of graft scandals that rocked his Democratic Party and other political parties in his ruling coaliti
Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting (SMRC) firm found that the president’s approval rating stood at 55.8 per cent in late December, up from 54 per cent in September 2012.
In its latest opinion poll, SMRC interviewed 1,220 respondents in Indonesia’s 33 provinces between December 6 and 20.
The research firm found that Yudhoyono’s performance steadily improved despite a series of political storms that rocked his political party and cabinet.
His approval rating stood at 50 percent in May, 52 percent in June, and 54 percent in September 2012, SMRC said.
SMRC research director Djayadi Hanan attributed the improvement in Yudhoyono’s job approval ratings to the economic growth that the country had enjoyed for the past couple of years.
“The president’s approval rating has a strong correlation with the public’s perception of the country’s economy,” he said on Sunday.
The survey found that 38 per cent of respondents thought the economy was in a better shape than it was the year before, while 32 per cent said the country’s economy had remained the same. Only 21 per cent said they were worse off.
Political analyst J Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), meanwhile, disagreed, saying that the improvement in Yudhoyono’s approval rating was only superficial and had nothing to do with the government’s performance in the economy.
Kristiadi said income inequality was widening under Yudhoyono.
“While the country’s economy has been improving, we still have an alarming and widening economic gap as shown by the recent Gini ratings, which reveal a worsening distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor,” he said.
