Recent survey results indicating a sharp decline in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's popularity are merely transient and have no bearing on the incumbent's bid for re-election, an aide said Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said Yudhoyono would regain his popularity over the next three or four months — once the impact of the fuel price hike wore off.

"It's no problem. We anticipated such a slide as a result of the government's policy to raise subsidized fuel prices," Mallarangeng said.

He said the President's popularity also faltered in the wake of the 2005 fuel price rise, but rebounded quickly.

The results of a recent survey by the Center for Strategic and International Studies were announced on Tuesday, with most of those polled favoring the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Megawati Soekarnoputri over Yudhoyono, and relegating the President's Democratic Party to fifth place.

Yudhoyono and former president Megawati are expected to square off for the second time in five years in the 2009 presidential election, should they decide to run. In 2004, Megawati lost the runoff by a landslide.

Nico T.B. Harijanto, the survey's coordinator, called the Democratic Party's popularity in 2004 "a temporary phenomenon", with many voters likely to switch allegiance to other parties if the elections were held today.

A survey conducted by the Indo Barometer institute two weeks ago found almost a third of respondents would vote for Megawati, compared to 20.7 percent for Yudhoyono. In May, pollsters put Yudhoyono ahead of Megawati.

Mallarangeng said the results of the surveys were not unexpected.

"Anywhere in the world, a government which passes unpopular policies to save the economy, risks losing its popularity," he said.

He added several surveys were conducted during this period, with differing results.

"The pollsters applied different methods, took different samples and therefore generated different results. To gauge a survey's credibility, we need only look at the samples," said Mallarangeng.

The Democratic Party has dismissed the CSIS's conclusion the party's supporters displayed a low level of loyalty.

"Yudhoyono and the Democratic Party are two sides of the same coin. If his popularity falls, it affects the party. We need to look at the survey comprehensively because it may not represent everything," he said.