Pulse Asia: Duterte's approval rating down to 78% from 85%

President Rodrigo Duterte's approval rating went down from 85% in June to 78% in September, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Based on the results of the pollster's September 2019 Ulat ng Bayan Survey released on Monday, Duterte's nationwide rating went seven notches down compared to the previous 85%.

 

 

A decrease of 13 points in the presidential performance rating in Luzon is also noted.

 

 

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III got 72%—five points lower than his previous approval rating.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, on the other hand, received 64%.

Vice President Leni Robredo's previous 55% approval rating also decreased by five points in the recent survey.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin got 42%, one point higher than his previous rating.

Trust ratings

Duterte remains the most trusted top government official in the country despite his diminished trust rating of 74%, the survey results also showed.

It is 11 points lower than his previous trust rating of 85% in June.

The President enjoys the highest trust in Mindanao at 91% and among those in Class E at 80%.

Meanwhile, Robredo received a trust rating of 46%, six points less than her previous 52%.

 

Sotto also had a seven-point drop at 66% of Filipinos who trusted him in the recent survey.

Cayetano received a 62% trust rating. There is no previous rating for the House Speaker as Cayetano assumed the position only in July. 

Bersamin’s trustworthiness decreased by 1 point at 34%.

Reactions

Reacting on the Pulse survey, Malacañang said it was not worried with such development.

“The rating is still high; it’s more than 70%. Surveys fluctuate depending on when they get them. If it is taken at a time when there are controversies hounding, it may affect the survey results,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said at a news conference.

Asked if the Palace was concerned about the ratings drop, Panelo said: “No.”

On the other hand, the Office of the Vice President said the survey results would prompt them to “redouble” their efforts in making the public more aware of what their office has been doing.

“We take the latest survey results as a challenge to redouble our efforts both in continuing to serve the public and keeping the Filipino people better informed of the work VP Leni is doing,” Gutierrez said.

Meanwhile, the House leadership said it was elated with the results.

“This is the first time that Speaker Cayetano has been rated by the Filipino people through the Pulse Asia’s Ulat sa Bayan survey, and we are collectively proud of our leader’s exemplary trust and approval rating,” said House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez.

Survey

The nationwide survey was conducted from September 16 to 22, 2019 using face-to-face interviews with a sample of 1,200 representative adults aged 18 years old and above.

It has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.

Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95% confidence level: ± 5.7% for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Pulse Asia noted that during the conduct of the survey, issues such as the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) mess, polio outbreak, hazing incident in the Philippine Military Academy, and African swine fever outbreak were being discussed by the public. —KG/VDS/RSJ, GMA News