President Rodrigo Duterte has maintained a “very good” net satisfaction rating among Filipinos for the first quarter of 2017, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The poll, conducted from March 25 to 28, showed that Duterte received a net satisfaction score of +63, unchanged from December last year.
In a statement, Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the survey results inspired Duterte.
“Although surveys are not his priority, it inspires the Chief Executive and the national leadership to continue its top agenda of ridding Philippine society of drugs, criminality, and corruption, or building a trustworthy government; prosperity for all; and peace within our borders,” Abella said.
“We value this public trust, and will continue to work hard to serve the best interests of the people and fulfill the vision of a nation worthy of the Filipino people,” he added.
In the survey, 75 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the President’s performance, 12 percent were undecided, and another 12 percent were dissatisfied.
The SWS noted that Duterte’s overall score was buoyed by the “excellent” +87 rating he received from Mindanao, his bailiwick.
The President, however, suffered a significant decline of nine points in Balance Luzon to +51 in March from +60 in December. He logged a “very good” +62 in the Visayas and +64 in Metro Manila.
Duterte also maintained “very good” satisfaction ratings across all socioeconomic classes—a +56 from +52 among class ABC respondents, +64 among class D or the masa, and +60 from +61 in class E.
First published in the BusinessWorld, the survey, conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults, had error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of at least +70 as “excellent”; those +50 to +69 as “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”; +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; and -70 and below, “execrable.”
Sought for comment, Ramon C. Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, attributed the significant changes in Duterte’s net satisfaction ratings in Mindanao and Balance Luzon to the seeming unequal attention given by the government to the two areas.
“The regions that got the most attention are in Mindanao while those who got the least attention are in Luzon outside Manila,” Casiple said in a text message, even as he qualified that the President’s net rating was “still very high.”
“[The survey result] follows the normal curve as other presidencies,” Mr. Casiple also said of the survey, in which Duterte’s latest rating hovered in the +60 range enjoyed by his predecessors Corazon C. Aquino early in 1987, Fidel V. Ramos early in 1993, and Joseph E. Estrada early in 1999.