GMA rating unchanged – Pulse Asia

President Arroyo’s performance ratings remained unchanged in the past three months even as other top government officials got higher public approval, according to the latest Ulat ng Bayan survey of Pulse Asia.

The Pulse Asia’s July 2007 Ulat ng Bayan national survey on the Performance of the Top 5 Government Officials and the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) was conducted from June 28 to July 10 using interviews with 1,200 adults with ages ranging from 18 years and above.

The survey was released on July 22, a day before the President’s SONA.

Mrs. Arroyo’s approval rating, however, increased by 10 percentage points in the best-off Class ABC as well as an increase of eight percentage points in her indecision rating in Metro Manila, Pulse Asia said.

Filipinos are divided in their assessment of Mrs. Arroyo’s performance in the past three months with 36 percent of them “ambivalent” on the matter, 34 percent “critical,” and 30 percent “appreciative” of her work, Pulse Asia said.

As in previous surveys, Pulse Asia said, those in the Visayas continue to grant the President her highest approval rating of 41 percent, followed by those in Mindanao with 38 percent.

Pulse Asia said the approval ratings of Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manuel Villar, Speaker Jose de Venecia and Chief Justice Reynato Puno increased by 10 to 14 percentage points during this period.

De Castro and Villar currently enjoy majority approval ratings of 55 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

De Venecia, on the other hand, registered almost the same approval ratings of 34 percent. – Helen Flores