Duterte, Leni ratings rise in June — Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’ s performance rating hit a new record-high in the second quarter of the year despite criticisms against his administration’s tax reform law and his crackdown on tambays or street idlers, based on the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Duterte registered an approval rating of 88 percent in June, up by eight points from 80 percent in March. The President received highest scores in Mindanao, his home region, and among the poor Class E at 99 percent and 91 percent, respectively.

The results of the Pulse Asia survey – conducted from June 15 to 21 – were in marked contrast to the results of another survey, by Social Weather Stations, showing an 11-point drop in Duterte’s net satisfaction rating. The SWS survey was conducted from June 27 to 30.

Asked about the widely divergent results, Pulse Asia research director Ana Maria Tabunda explained to The STAR last night, “The crucial difference, I think, between our survey results and that of the other group is due to the fact that our field work was completed before the blasphemy was uttered, while that of the other group was done after the blasphemy was uttered.”

The Pulse Asia survey was taken days before Duterte’s much-criticized “God is stupid” remark.

“The Palace expresses its gratitude for our people’s continuing vote of confidence for President Duterte who remains the most approved and most trusted top national official today with 88 percent approval and 87 percent trust, respectively,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said yesterday.

Only three percent expressed dissatisfaction over Duterte’s performance in the second quarter of 2018, while 10 percent of the respondents were undecided about the matter. The survey involved interviews with 1,800 registered voters 18 years old and above.

The President’s latest approval rating was also two percentage points above his previous record-high approval rating of 86 percent in September 2016.

The same survey showed more Filipinos expressing “big trust” in the President.

Duterte’s trust rating rose by nine points from 78 percent in March to 87 percent in June. Only two percent of adult Filipinos said they have “small or no trust” in him, while 11 percent were undecided.

Vice President Leni Robredo also garnered higher approval and trust scores in the June survey of Pulse Asia.

Satisfaction with the work of the Vice President increased from 55 percent in March to 62 percent in June. Fourteen percent of Filipinos said they were dissatisfied with her performance while 24 percent were undecided.

Robredo’s trust rating also slightly improved from 53 percent to 56 percent. Seventeen percent of Filipinos expressed distrust in her, while 27 percent could not say whether to trust her or not.

Her spokesman Barry Gutierrez said she is grateful for the people’s continued support and trust.

Duterte on Tuesday said he would not step down for Robredo, whom he described as “incompetent” to lead the country.

The President’s comment against Robredo came hours after Robredo said she is ready to lead a “united opposition” against Duterte.

Higher ratings for Duterte allies

Former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III’s approval and trust ratings both rose by 11 points in June.

Pimentel’s performance rating increased from 61 percent in March to 72 percent, while his trust score jumped from 53 percent to 54 percent.

Seven percent of Filipinos said they were dissatisfied with the former Senate president’s work, while six percent expressed distrust in him.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez also experienced gains in his performance and trust ratings in the second quarter of 2018.

His approval rating went up to 47 percent from 41 percent, while trust in him rose from 36 percent to 45 percent.

Thirteen percent of Filipinos were dissatisfied with Alvarez’s performance, while 15 percent had “small or no trust” in him.

Ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno received a trust rating of 19 percent, down by three points from 22 percent in March. Thirty-five percent of Filipinos expressed distrust in her.

“Although the Supreme Court decided on the quo warranto petition against Sereno only on May 11, 2018, she was no longer included in the performance probe because she had been on indefinite leave since March 1, 2018,” Pulse Asia said.

Among the top issues when the survey was made were the suspension of the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels, the arrest of more than 7,000 tambays in Metro Manila, SC’s upholding Sereno’s ouster and calls for the suspension of the tax reform law widely blamed for soaring inflation.

The Pulse Asia survey was non-commissioned and had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. 

According to Roque, the Chief Executive accepts the people’s trust and confidence with “all humility” but stressed “he is not leading the country for the sake of high or good ratings.”

Baffling results

The opposition is baffled by the widely conflicting results of the Pulse Asia and SWS surveys.

“There’s a significant difference, more than 10 percentage points, in the results of the Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys. I’m talking of the gross approval ratings. Makes you wonder,” Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao said. “Can’t get an accurate picture if you look at both surveys.”

Opposition colleague Tom Villarin of Akbayan said Pulse Asia “has been consistent in showing high ratings for President Duterte.”

“It’s a perception boost for Duterte but not a reality check. While it will boost the egos in Malacañang, it won’t make people feel less poor, hungry and insecure of the future. It will not erase the 5.2-percent inflation that’s hitting people’s pockets hard, the cutting down of real wages, loss of jobs and high interest rates driving investments down,” he said.

Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares attributed the “huge disparity” in the Pulse Asia and SWS results to the surveys’ time gap.

“The Pulse Asia survey was done on June 15-21, while the SWS poll was conducted on June 27-30. The raging issues during the gap were President Duterte’s ‘stupid God’ statement and the tit-for-tat between the National Democratic Front and the anti-peace talks Cabinet members,” he said.

Methodologies questioned

Two senators, meanwhile, assailed the methodologies used by the country’s two biggest survey outfits.

Reacting to the latest Pulse Asia survey showing an improvement in the approval and trust ratings of President Duterte, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said “the figures speak for themselves.”

But with regard to the SWS survey, Sotto said he did not agree with how the survey firm came out with a net score by subtracting the dissatisfied from the satisfied responses.

For the SWS survey conducted also in June, Duterte got a net satisfaction score of +45, down 11 points from the March survey where he received a +56 net score.

“What is this, right minus wrong? Not right. During the elections do you subtract those who did not vote from those who voted? It’s the same thing,” Sotto said.

He said the satisfied and dissatisfied should be reported separately and not released as a net score.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, on the other hand, criticized the sampling design of Pulse Asia, which he said does not show an accurate picture.

“That is clearly a sampling design error and therefore, invalid. Pulse Asia, historically, keeps on insisting to use respondents of Davao City to generalize or represent the population for the whole Mindanao,” Trillanes said.

“This is not valid anymore because the respondents of the other regions are clearly not as fanatical to or fearful of Duterte as the Davaoeños are,” he added.

Tabunda told The STAR last night: “Only 75 respondents of our sample of 430 respondents in Mindanao are from Davao del Sur. The rest are from 15 provinces in Mindanao, with the allocation spread proportionately across the five regions in Mindanao.”

Senate, House rate high

The Senate, House of Representatives and the Supreme Court enjoyed higher approval and trust ratings in the Pulse Asia’s second quarter survey.

Satisfaction with the performance of the Senate rose from 60 percent in March to 69 percent in June, while trust in the institution increased from 55 percent to 61.

The House, meanwhile, received an approval score of 66 percent from 56 percent. Its trust rating also improved from 51 percent to 58.

The Supreme Court obtained an approval rating of 53 percent to 63 percent, while trust in the high court rose from 47 percent to 54.

According to Pulse Asia, the Senate registered improvements in its approval ratings in Metro Manila (+25 percentage points), Mindanao (+15 percentage points) and Class D (+10 percentage points).

The approval scores of the House went up in Metro Manila (+27 percentage points), the Visayas (+15 points), Class D (+9 points) and Class E (+14).

As for the Supreme Court, public satisfaction with its work became more pronounced in the rest of Luzon (+11 percentage points), Class D (+8 points) and Class E (+15).

The trust ratings of the Senate and the House rose in Metro Manila (+26 and +28 percentage points, respectively) and in Class D (+7 and +9 points, respectively).

The SC also registered increase in trust ratings in the rest of Luzon and Class D (+11 and +8 percentage points, respectively).

Pulse Asia also noted the drop in the distrust scores of the Senate and the House of Representatives among Metro Manilans (-21 and -26 points, respectively). – With  Christina Mendez, Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy