Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – 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 coalition.

Saiful Mujani Research & Consulting (SMRC) firm found that the President's approval rating stood at 55.8 percent in late December last year, up from 54 percent in September 2012.

In its latest opinion poll, SMRC interviewed 1,220 respondents in the country's 33 provinces between Dec. 6 and Dec. 20.

The research firm found that Yudhoyono's performance steadily improved in spite of 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 during a press conference on Sunday.

The survey found that 38 percent of respondents thought that the economy was in better shape than it was the year before, while 32 percent were of the opinion that the country's economic condition was as good as it was last year. Only 21 percent of the respondents thought that they were worse off.

Djayadi also said that the fact that Yudhoyono decided not to increase the price of fuel since he was reelected in 2009 had also helped him significantly.

"Yudhoyono raised the subsidized fuel prices three times during his first term. However, he has not made the same policy during his second term," he said. "This could have given rise to a positive assessment from the respondents," Djayadi said.

Political analyst J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), meanwhile, disagreed with Djayadi, 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 that 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. "Therefore, we have to dig deep to see whether the public is really satisfied with the economy."

But in spite of improvements in Yudhoyono's approval ratings, his Democratic Party has suffered. The SMRC found that the electability of the Democratic Party has sunk to a new low of 8 percent from 32 percent at the height of the party's popularity back in December 2009.

"This is an anomaly. The public perception of Yudhoyono should have been able to boost the public support of the Democratic Party," said Djayadi. "So we can conclude that, the source of the anomaly is not the performance of Yudhoyono, but the internal conflicts besetting the party."

Djayadi said the Democratic Party had not been able to mount an effective public relations campaign to dispel the image that its politicians were among the most corrupt.

An SMRC survey in June 2012 showed 44.8 percent of respondents believed the Democratic Party was the most corrupt. Golkar Party trailed in second position at 6.5 percent of respondents and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at 2.4 percent.

Democratic Party patron Achmad Mubarok, said that it was unfair the Democratic Party had gotten this image as there were also other parties that were as corrupt, if not more so. Djayadi, however, said it was only natural for the public to hold a spotlight on the Democratic Party as the ruling party.

"This is fact that the Democratic Party has to accept. People will expect more from a party that holds the most power. They will also expect more of a party that boasts a clean image," he said.