Upper classes split on calls for Estrada’s resignation

As President Estrada’s impeachment trial enters its ninth day today, a tracking survey said relatively well-off Metro Manilans were evenly split on the issue of his immediate resignation.

Pulse Asia said that as of Dec. 17, 46 percent of the ABC Class want Mr. Estrada to resign — up from around 38 percent on Dec. 2 — while 45 percent of the same class disagreed, for a net rating of 1. Nine percent were undecided.

On the other hand, the President can still count on the support of the so-called great unwashed, with a mere 18 percent from Class E saying he should resign as of Dec. 17. Sixty-eight percent disagreed, for a net rating of -50.

Pulse Asia executive director Pia Bennagen also noted that there is a declining agreement with the statement that "only constitutional processes should be followed in removing President Estrada from office."

She said the figure declined from 77 percent since the start of trial on Dec. 7 to 65 percent in the latest survey, but still "a substantial majority."

On Dec. 2, those from Class E who wanted Mr. Estrada to resign hovered just below 30 percent, hitting an all-time low of less than 10 percent on the first weekend of the impeachment trial on Dec. 10 and 11.

In Class D, 30 percent agreed that the President should immediately step down, as opposed to 54 percent who disagreed, for a net rating of -24.

Since Dec. 2, those from Class D who wanted an immediate resignation has hovered around the 30 percent mark.

The number of those from the Class ABC who want Mr. Estrada to resign at once is on a steep incline, approaching its peak of 50 percent in mid-November.

Since early December, those in the well-off classes who agreed with an early resignation was mostly around the 35 percent mark, breaching the 40 percent mark only on Dec. 16.

In Class E, those who wanted him to resign gathered steam again after the Dec. 10-11 low to breach the 20 percent mark on Dec. 14 to 16, only to fall below that critical level in the latest survey.

In a letter to The STAR, Bennagen said "Metro Manilans are once again preoccupied with the jueteng pay-off allegations as juetengate again becomes the most often-cited troubling presidential issue."

Bennagen said 37 percent of respondents said juetengate was the critical issue, while 28 percent said investors’ lack of confidence in the President was crucial.

She also noted a decline in the public’s confidence in the impartiality of senators sitting as jurors in the impeachment trial –from 58 percent last Dec. 7 to 47 percent as of Dec. 17.

The survey, commissioned by The STAR, has a margin of error of plus or minus six percent. With 300 moving respondents, it ends Dec. 20. –Juaniyo Arcellana