JAKARTA, thekabarnews.com – Former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s political tour has generated potential support for the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI). A new national survey suggests that most Indonesians remain unaware of his campaign activities.

Parameter Politik Indonesia (PPI) released the findings through its YouTube channel on Saturday, September 5.

The institute examined public awareness of Jokowi’s efforts to promote PSI. It also asked respondents who knew about the tour whether it increased their interest in the party.

PPI Executive Director Adi Prayitno said 37.1 percent of respondents knew that Jokowi had conducted regional visits to help expand PSI. Meanwhile, the remaining 62.9 percent said they were unaware of those activities.

Among respondents who knew about the political tour, 13 percent expressed interest in joining PSI. Another 34.8 percent said they were not interested, while 28.1 percent described their response as neutral. The remaining 24.2 percent did not provide a definite answer.

“Among people who said they knew that Jokowi was making visits and working for PSI, approximately 13.0 percent said they were interested in joining PSI,” Adi said during the presentation.

The percentages require careful interpretation. The 13 percent and 34.8 percent figures refer to the group that knew about Jokowi’s activities. These percentages do not refer to the entire national sample.

Converting the 13 percent subgroup figure proportionally yields approximately 4.8 percent of all respondents. It is also an expression of interest, not a direct measure of voting intention.

“Of the 37 percent of people who know that Jokowi is working for PSI, around 13 percent could potentially vote for and then join PSI. The point is that there is potential,” Adi said.

When PPI asked all respondents which party they would support, the same survey put PSI’s nationwide electability at 2.6 percent. This statistic applied if a legislative election took place at the time.

That figure provides a more direct measure of current electoral preference than the question about interest generated by Jokowi’s tour, according to PPI’s survey presentation as quoted by Inilah.com.

PSI won approximately 2.81 percent of valid votes in the 2024 legislative election, below the 4 percent parliamentary threshold. Official General Elections Commission data recorded about 4.26 million votes for the party.

Jokowi has publicly supported PSI, which his youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, chairs.

PSI officials have described the former president as the party’s mentor, motivator and “ideological father.” Those descriptions do not necessarily constitute a formal executive position.

PPI interviewed 1,200 eligible Indonesian voters face-to-face between July 20 and August 3. The sample covered 38 provinces. It had a stated margin of error of 2.8 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

That margin applies to the full sample; estimates based only on the smaller, aware subgroup carry greater statistical uncertainty.

Adi cautioned that political interest may not translate into votes.

“Whether that potential becomes part of PSI depends heavily on the political work that PSI carries out in the coming period,” he said.

The survey indicates that Jokowi may give PSI an opening. Still, party organization and voter outreach will determine whether that attention produces durable electoral support.