JakartaPost-Aug 4, 2026
President Prabowo Subianto’s political standing has weakened significantly nearly two years into his term, a shift analysts attribute to a growing public disillusionment with the government’s handling of the economy, implementation of flagship policies and his leadership style. Prabowo’s approval rating has fallen to 51.1 percent in July from 81.2 percent in November last year, according to a survey from Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), as public confidence in the economy, politics and law enforcement weakened. Prabowo’s electability has also taken a hit, slipping to 14.5 percent from 34.9 percent over the same period, according to the SMRC survey, leaving the Gerindra Party chairman well behind his party member, West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi, who led the poll with 35 percent support. The findings stand in contrast to the early years of his two predecessors, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, whose approval ratings either remained steady or strengthened during the first two years of their first term in office. “If the presidential election were held today and Prabowo ran as a candidate, he would likely not be reelected,” SMRC executive director Deni Irvani said last week, adding that mounting dissatisfaction with the administration had begun to erode the electoral advantage typically enjoyed by first-term incumbents. Analysts from other institutions interviewed by The Jakarta Post agreed that the sudden dip in Prabowo’s popularity should serve as a “serious warning” for the President who came to power in late 2024 with a strong public mandate, having won the election by a landslide. “Prabowo’s campaign was built around optimism and hopefulness in continuing progress. But that optimism has not been successfully translated into policies that truly address people’s immediate concerns,” political analyst Nicky Fahrizal from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said.” People want affordable prices and jobs, but instead, they are seeing layoffs, fewer employment opportunities and investors leaving,” he noted, adding that the government’s failure to address these concerns had prevented Prabowo from building on the strong public support he inherited from Jokowi.
