Electability of Anies Baswedan Hampered by Partisanship: Pollster

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia executive director, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the survey on May 2020 found that the electability of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan had descended after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pollster argues that it is mainly caused by the partisan voters of the 2019 presidential election. 

According to Burhanuddin, there are at least 2 variables affecting a person's electability: popularity and partisanship. He explained that Anies Baswedan is already popular but is disliked by voters who have the tendency towards Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the 2019 presidential election. 

"People vote not just by performance alone. There are also other factors such as the 2019 election," said Burhanuddin in Youtube's Cokro TV virtual seminar on Sunday. "Why are Jokowi supporters uninterested in supporting Anies? It's because of partisanship."

Indikator Politik Indonesia study in May 2020 showed Anies Baswedan’s had dropped 2 percent; scoring 12.1 percent in February but scored 10.4 percent in May. 

According to the same study, the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the electability of other political figures such as Ridwan Kamil, who scored 7.7 percent electability from 3.8 percent. The pollster argues that Kamil’s response to the pandemic had helped his electability. 

Burhanuddin said Anies Baswedan’s electability in February was already lower than other regional heads scoring 60 percent while other regional heads scored above 80 percent. He believes that this would be difficult to change, unlike popularity, it would be harder to change a person’s perception that is already not in favor towards someone.

Read also: Anies Baswedan Reveals Worrying Stats on Jakarta Covid-19 Cases

FIKRI ARIGI