Yuliasri Perdani and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – After a survey by the country's leading newspaper Kompas showed that Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo managed to double his lead over his strongest opponent – patron of the Greater Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto – political parties are rushing to rethink their strategies for the 2014 presidential election.
The opinion poll, which involved 1,400 respondents between November 2012 and June 2013, shows that Jokowi stands a greater chance of becoming the next president, outdoing Prabowo and Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
The survey reveals that in June 32.5 percent of respondents said they would vote for Jokowi, an increase from 17.7 percent in December last year.
"The support base for Jokowi is expanding. He is favored by people from diverse demographic, socio-economic and political backgrounds," Bestian Nainggolan from Kompas research division said.
Trailing behind Jokowi is Prabowo, who garnered support from 15.1 percent, up 2 percent from December last year.
The support for Megawati has plummeted from 9.3 percent in December to 8 percent. Former vice president and Golkar senior politician Jusuf Kalla received 4.5 percent, down from 6.7 percent six months earlier.
Golkar chairman and the party's presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie enjoyed a slight increase of support, from 5.9 percent in December to 8.8 percent.
Responding to the opinion poll, PDI-P senior politician Ribka Tjiptaning hinted that, at the party's national meeting – slated for Sept. 6, there was a possibility that Megawati could name Jokowi as the party's presidential candidate.
"It is possible. Ibu [Megawati] sees things objectively. She was the one who appointed [Jokowi] to run for the gubernatorial [election]," she said on Monday.
Ribka, however, said that her party would only field its own candidate if it achieved at least 20 percent of the vote in the upcoming legislative election.
There have also been talks among leaders of the PDI-P to pair Jokowi with Megawati with the popular Jakarta Governor serving as her deputy.
Jokowi, as usual, declined to comment on his ever-growing popularity. "I am focusing on working in Jakarta. For issues regarding the 2014 [general election], please ask the party chairperson," he told reporters at City Hall, referring to Megawati.
Sutan Bhatoegana, a member of the Democratic Party central board, said his party was not intimidated by Jokowi's popularity. "We are not scared. We are not thinking about Jokowi. If you insist on focusing on popularity, many people are indeed popular," he said.
Gerindra's Martin Hutabarat said that the party would be open to Jokowi's candidacy in 2019. "We will make him candidate in 2019. That would be the best time for him," he said.
[Sita W. Dewi contributed to this report.]