Indonesian Politics Viewed Poorly by Majority, President's Approval Drops

A significant portion of the Indonesian public perceives the national political climate negatively, with a recent survey revealing that 42.8% of citizens describe the situation as poor. This marks a substantial increase from the 23% who held similar views in November 2025.

The findings from Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) indicate a dwindling positive outlook, with only 13.5% of respondents rating the political conditions as good or very good. This is a sharp decline from the 35.8% positive assessment recorded nine months ago.

“

Only 13.5 percent of the public assesses the current national political conditions as good or very good, while those who assess it as poor or very poor are much larger, at 42.8 percent.

Concurrently, public satisfaction with President Prabowo Subianto's performance has seen a marked decrease. The survey shows a drop from 81.2% satisfaction in November 2025 to 51.1% in July 2026. Conversely, those expressing dissatisfaction or strong dissatisfaction with the president's performance has risen to 46.9% from approximately 16% over the same nine-month period.

The SMRC study, conducted between July 5-19, 2026, involved 749 randomly selected respondents across Indonesia. The margin of error is stated at 3.7% with a 95% confidence level. The research suggests a correlation between the public's negative evaluation of the country's condition and the declining approval ratings for the president.

“

The decline in public satisfaction is related to citizens' negative evaluation of the country's condition.