Duterte ratings suffer double-digit drop — Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’s approval and trust ratings fell significantly in the third quarter of the year amid various issues that hounded his administration, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey. 

Based on the survey taken from Sept. 1 to 7, Duterte obtained an approval score of 75 percent, down 13 points from 88 percent in June. Those who disapproved of his work, on the other hand, rose seven points to 10 percent.

The President’s trust rating also fell by 15 points from 87 percent in June to 72 percent this month. Filipinos who expressed distrust in him also rose by seven points to nine percent in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the approval and trust ratings of Vice President Leni Robredo barely changed between June and September as her current approval rating was at 61 percent, down by only one point from 62 percent in June.

At least 17 percent of Filipinos disapproved of Robredo’s work, up three points from June’s 14 percent.

The highest drops in Duterte’s approval ratings were recorded in the rest of Luzon from 83 percent to 66 percent and among Class D from 87 percent to 74 percent, Pulse Asia said.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. expressed no misgivings over the survey that showed a double-digit drop in Duterte’s approval and trust ratings.

“The President rules because it is his constitutional duty; he doesn’t rule for survey results. He declared that many times. So, we take note of the survey results but we are not affected by it because the President will do his best to discharge his duties as President and Commander-in-Chief,” Roque said at a regular press briefing in Malacañang.

He expressed confidence that Duterte still enjoys the trust and confidence of the people despite the survey results. 

“Well, I believe that is still a very good approval rating. Certainly higher than mine and certainly still the highest of all the officials surveyed by Pulse Asia. The President still enjoys a high approval rating,” he said. 

Roque agreed with sentiments that increasing inflation contributed to the dip in the President’s ratings as he assured the public that the government is doing its best to address the high prices of goods, being attributed to factors here and abroad.

He admitted that inflation is hurting Filipinos but stressed that the government is doing what it can to bring down the prices of rice and other basic goods.

As head of the family, Roque said the President also feels the pinch of the high prices of goods since he also buys his own food while outside Malacañang. 

“We’re in this together and we’ll see that our efforts will bear fruits. We can lower down the prices of goods even if we may not be able to lower the prices of fuel, but we have efforts to cushion its impact on the prices of goods,” he added in Filipino.

Pulse Asia noted that trust in the President became less pronounced not only at the national level (-15 percentage points) but basically in all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings.

In the case of Robredo, her approval score went up in the Visayas from 63 percent to 80 percent but declined in Mindanao from 73 percent to 62 percent.

She downplayed the slight drop in her approval rating, saying this is “very negligible.”

Senate President Vicente Sotto III obtained majority approval and trust scores of 73 percent and 66 percent, respectively.

At least 42 percent of the respondents approved of acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio’s performance in the third quarter, while 15 percent disapproved. Also, 33 percent expressed trust in him while 19 percent expressed distrust.

Former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo received the lowest trust rating among the top five government officials at 19 percent, as 43 percent of respondents expressed distrust in her.

Still, her office welcomed the result, saying this rating shows that the level of mistrust is already diminishing. It pointed out that in March 2010, or three months before her term ended, her approval rating was only at 14 percent. In July 2010, her approval rating was at 16 percent.

“While Speaker Arroyo has always been dispassionate about surveys, she takes them as a snapshot of people’s sentiment. When she was president, she would not let surveys define her work,” her office said.

House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said in a statement that “the survey encourages us to work double time, moving us to exert more time and effort in marshaling vital legislative measures.” “But more than approval ratings, there are important numbers in the dashboard of social and economic indicators which we must focus on like trade numbers, deficit, the consumer price index, job figures, farm output and many more,” Andaya said. 

Meanwhile, Pulse Asia said approval in the work of the country’s top three institutions dropped in the third quarter of the year.

The Senate’s approval score fell six points from 69 percent in June to 63 percent in September while the House obtained an approval rating of 56 percent, down from 66 percent in June. The Supreme Court got an approval score of 52 percent, down 11 points from 63 percent.

The Pulse Asia survey had a total of 1,800 respondents, who are registered voters.

It has sampling error margin of plus or minus two percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. – With Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz