US still Filipinos’ most trusted country — SWS survey

MANILA, Philippines — The United States remains the country most trusted by Filipinos among four countries included in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in the last quarter of 2018.  

 The poll results released on Wednesday showed that the US obtained a net trust rating of “very good” +60 while Japan got “good” +34 and Australia “good” +31.

China remains the least trusted with a net trust score of “neutral” -7, up nine points from the “poor” -16 in September 2018.

The SWS said the net trust rating of the US hardly moved from its “very good” +59 (70 percent much trust, 11 percent little trust) in September 2018.

Australia’s net trust rating remained “good” at +31, down five points from the +36 (51 percent much trust, 16 percent little trust) in the previous survey.

Like China, the trust rating of Japan also improved by one grade, from “moderate” +28 (59 percent much trust, 22 percent little trust) in September 2018 to “good” +34 (53 percent much trust, 19 percent little trust) in December last year.

The pollster said the net trust rating of Japan has been at “moderate” to “good” level since 1997, reaching as high as “very good” +54 in December 2017.

Filipinos who have little trust in China decreased from 43 percent to 39 percent. Those who are undecided increased by one point from 28 percent to 29 percent.

The number of Filipinos who said they have much trust in China increased from 27 percent in September last year to 31 percent in December.

According to the pollster, net trust in China has been positive in only nine out of 48 surveys since August 1994. 

It reached as high as “moderate” +17 in June 2010 and as low as a “bad” -46 in September 2015.

During the Duterte administration, the net trust score of China peaked at “neutral” +9 in December 2016 and dropped to its lowest “bad” -35 in June 2018.

The net trust rating is the rounded off as the difference between those who said they have much trust and have little trust with the countries included in the survey.

The SWS classifies net trust score of at least +70 as “excellent,” +50 to +69 as “very “good” +30 to +49 as “good,” +10 to +29 as “moderate,” +9 to -9 as “neutral,” -10 to -29 as “poor,” -30 to -49 as “bad,” -50 to -69 as “very bad,” and -70 and below as “execrable.”

The survey used 1,440 respondents with an error margin of +/-2.6 percent.