Duterte's approval, trust ratings soar in June —Pulse Asia

President Rodrigo Duterte's approval and trust ratings continued to go up in June despite criticisms against his administration's tax reform law and his crackdown on street idlers, according to a Pulse Asia survey released Friday.

The June 15 to 21 poll of 1,800 respondents showed 88 percent approve Duterte’s performance, up eight percentage points from March’s 80 percent.

His trust rating, meanwhile, improved to 87 percent from 79 percent in March.

Except for former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, other top government officials also scored improvements in their approval and trust ratings.

Vice President Leni Robredo got an approval rating of 62 percent, seven points higher than her 55 percent rating in March. Her trust rating settled at 56 percent, up three points from March’s 53 percent.

Former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III received an approval rating of 72 percent and trust rating of 64 percent. Both figures were an 11-point jump from the previous quarter.

Pimentel was included in the survey even if the Senate had a change of leadership on May 21, when Pimentel stepped down and gave way to Senator Vicente Sotto III.

“The performance probe asks respondents to assess the work done by selected government officials in the three months prior to the conduct of the survey. Senator Pimentel still occupied the Senate presidency during most of the quarter covered by this survey’s performance probe,” Pulse Asia said in a statement.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s approval rating settled at 47 percent in June compared to 41 percent in March.

Alvarez’s trust rating improved to 45 percent in June from 36 percent in March.

Sereno’s trust rating was at 19 percent in June, down three points from March’s 22 percent.

“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 an indefinite leave since  March 1, 2018,” Pulse Asia said.

Majority approval figures are also enjoyed by the Senate (69 percent), the House of Representatives (66 percent), and the SC (63 percent) at the national level.

Majority of Filipinos trust the Senate (61 percent), House (58 percent) and the SC (54 percent).

Among the top issues during the survey period were the suspension of the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the government and communist rebels, the arrest of more than 7,000 “tambay” in Metro Manila following Duterte’s order for the police to be stricter against loiterers, the finality of the SC decision that ousted Sereno from office due to lack of integrity, and calls for suspension of the tax reform law which some sectors blame for soaring inflation.

The nationwide survey had a ± 2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Another survey, however, showed a different picture of public perception on Duterte’s leadership.

Results of the Social Weather Stations’ survey from June 27 to 30 showed Duterte's satisfaction rating fell to a personal low of +45 from +56 in March.

The 11-point decline pushed Duterte down by one grade from very good to good in the scale of SWS, which conducted face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

Duterte was unfazed by the drop in his satisfaction rating, telling reporters on Tuesday that he did not care about it.

The SWS survey was conducted amid backlash over Duterte’s remarks on a “stupid God” and teachings of Christianity as well as concerns on soaring commodity prices. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News