THEJAKARTAPOST.COM – A survey conducted by the Pol-Tracking Institute has revealed that the level of public interest in the 2014 presidential election is high, with 84.9 percent of respondents intending to vote.
“There is quite a high interest in the presidential election, with nearly 85 percent saying they intend to vote and this exceeds their interest in voting in the legislative election,” said Pol-Tracking Institute director Hanta Yudha on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
He said this was because there would be no incumbent candidates running in the 2014 presidential election with the stage set for an interesting competition. Moreover, he added, people had high hopes for the next president. “Only 9.76 percent of respondents said that they weren’t interested in participating in the presidential election while 5.3 percent were undecided or did not answer,” said Hanta.
He further said that most respondents, 61.8 percent, would favor male presidential and vice presidential candidates. Only 32 percent of voters polled said that both women and men would have equal merit as presidential or vice presidential candidates.
“Only 2 percent of voters favored a female presidential candidate, therefore, gender remains an issue in the election,” said Hanta.
The survey also found that 66 percent of respondents were not influenced by ethnicity-based issues in choosing presidential and vice presidential candidates, while 25 percent of voters said ethnicity remained a crucial aspect which would have an impact on their choices in the presidential election.
“There are still voters who refer to ethnic background before choosing a candidate,” said Hanta. The survey was conducted in 33 provinces across Indonesia and involved 1,200 respondents selected through a multi-stage random sampling method from Dec.16 to Dec.23, 2013. The margin of error stood at 2.83 percent and the trust level at 96 percent. (ebf)
Sumber: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/01/26/survey-shows-high-public-interest-presidential-election.html