Sultan Abdurrahman, Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's electability in the latest survey by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) has drastically decreased. Jamiluddin Ritonga, a political communication expert from Esa Unggul University, stated that Prabowo needs a major evaluation to improve his electability, including reshuffling the cabinet.
SMRC's survey results showed that Prabowo's electability decreased from 34.9 percent in November 2026 to 14.5 percent in July 2026. Meanwhile, during the same period, the electability of West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi has increased from 19.7 percent to 35 percent.
The survey results align with the declining public satisfaction with Prabowo's performance. Public satisfaction with Prabowo's performance was at 81.2 percent in November 2025. By July 2026, it had decreased to 51.1 percent.
According to Jamiluddin, the decrease in electability should keep Prabowo on his toes. "It is definitely a warning sign for Prabowo if he intends to run for the next Presidential Election," he stated on Friday, 30 July 2026.
He mentioned that if Prabowo's electability continues to decrease, his chances of being elected in the 2029 presidential election will be relatively low. Furthermore, if Prabowo fails to improve the economic, political, and law enforcement conditions, his electability could plummet even further.
Therefore, Jamiluddin stated that, whether he likes it or not, Prabowo must find a drastic solution. One of them is to evaluate all the ministers in the economic, political, and legal sectors. "Prabowo needs to be firm and brave in reshuffling the ministers in these three areas," he said.
Jamiluddin stated that without the courage to replace the ministers in these three areas, it would be difficult for Prabowo to regain the public's trust. "Because the ministers in these three areas have caused the decline in public satisfaction with President Prabowo's performance," he added.
These choices, according to Jamiluddin, are indeed very difficult. "But it seems necessary if Prabowo truly wants to boost his electability," said the former Dean of FIKOM IISIP Jakarta.
Prabowo's electability is behind that of Governor Dedi Mulyadi in the survey conducted by SMRC from 5-19 July 2026. "It's interesting because Prabowo, as the incumbent who recently won the presidential election, has seen such a strong decline in his electability," said SMRC Executive Director Deni Irvani on Wednesday, 29 July 2026.
Deni explained that the survey's population included all Indonesian citizens with voting rights. A total of 749 respondents were selected randomly. Those with telephones were interviewed by phone (83.8 percent), while those without telephones were interviewed face-to-face (16.2 percent).
This proportion is in line with the population of mobile phone users and non-users. The margin of error for the survey is approximately 3.7 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2116098/can-prabowo-revive-his-electabilit