Ma'ruf Amin`s Popularity Affecting Jokowi`s Chances in Banten

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The campaign team for incumbent 2019 presidential election candidates Jokowi – Ma’ruf Amin, is currently exerting all of its efforts to attract voters in Banten after the team’s internal survey revealed that the pair is still struggling to maintain control in the region.

As the December 15, Tempo Magazine reports, the low popularity of Ma’ruf in Banten caused the pair to struggle in the area. This was revealed by the Jokowi – Ma’ruf campaign team volunteer director Maman Imanulhaq said that their candidates could only manage to generate 39 percent votes in Banten.

Meanwhile, the incumbent’s rival Prabowo Subianto – Sandiaga Uno reportedly attracted 58 percent of voters in Banten with the rest having been undecided.

It is widely known that Banten is Prabowo’s voters’ base as shown in the 2014 presidential election when Prabowo was paired with Hatta Rajasa and generated 57.1 percent votes, against the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla in the same year that only took home 42.9 percent votes.

Banten will certainly become an important voters base considering that the area has 8.1 million potential voters, which is an increase of 200,000 voters compared to the 2014 presidential election.

Despite being behind their rival in Banten, the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin pair has shown positive feedbacks in areas such as Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, and Yogyakarta.

HUSSEIN ABRI