Survey Indicator: Erick Thohir Tops the Vice Presidential Candidate Poll After Indonesia's SEA Games Victory

A survey conducted by Indikator Politik Indonesia at the end of May 2023 shows Erick Thohir leading the pack of potential vice-presidential candidates (cawapres) in a simulation of 18 names. According to the survey, this is due to the performance of the PSSI Chairman, particularly his role in leading the Indonesian national team to a gold medal at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

His electability as the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises reached 15.5%. Erick's position is closely contested by the Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, with an electability of 15.4%.

Following them are the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, with 13.4% electability; the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, with 13.1%; and the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), with 5.6%.

Previously, in a survey conducted by Indikator from April 8th to 13th, Erick was in third place with 11.8% electability as a cawapres.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, Executive Director of Indikator Politik Indonesia, believes there is a correlation between the surge in Erick's electability and his position as PSSI Chairman since February 2023, with his current top position in electability.

"This 'ball effect' sufficiently explains why Erick Thohir's electability as a cawapres has increased sharply," said Burhanuddin in an online press conference on Sunday (June 3, 2023).

Erick's leadership at PSSI has yet to fully address the Kanjuruhan Tragedy. However, the Indonesian U-22 football team won the gold medal at the 2023 SEA Games last month.

"A large majority, 77.2%, agree that PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir played a significant role in Indonesia's victory at the SEA Games," said Burhanuddin.

"Of course, (the surge in Erick's electability) is not solely due to football. He is multitasking as the Minister of SOEs, was previously the Chairman of the Asian Games, and so on. But based on the available data, the explanation is (because of) football," said Burhanuddin.

Erick does not currently belong to any political party, but recently his name has been closely associated with the National Mandate Party (PAN). He has also been involved in several major events organized by Nahdlatul Ulama since being officially inaugurated as an honorary member of Banser in 2021.

The Indikator Politik survey was conducted through telephone interviews with 1,230 respondents in Indonesia aged 17 years or older, or already married, between May 26th and 30th, 2023. Sample selection was done using the random digit dialing (RDD) method. RDD is a technique for selecting samples through the random generation of telephone numbers.

With the RDD technique, respondent samples are selected through the random generation of telephone numbers, validation, and screening. The survey's margin of error is approximately 2.9% at a 95% confidence level, assuming simple random sampling.