SWS poll finds 61% approval of House death penalty proposal

A NEW poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) has found 61% of its respondents approving a proposal by the House of Representatives to reimpose the death penalty on heinous crimes related to illegal drugs.

But while there was “higher approval... from those more knowledgeable about” the said proposal, the noncommissioned survey found that “52% have either only a little or almost no knowledge about it,” whereas “48% of adult Filipinos have either extensive or partial but sufficient knowledge” about the said proposal.

The First Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey was done on March 25-28, using face- to-face interviews of 1,200 adults ( 18 years old and above) nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao ( sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao).

Thirteen percent ( 13%) of the respondents said they have “extensive” knowledge about the proposal in Congress to reimpose the capital punishment, while 35% answered they had “partial but sufficient” knowledge, 43% answered “only a little” and 10% answered “almost nothing or nothing.”

The House on March 7 voted to pass House Bill 4727, with 217 lawmakers in the affirmative, 54 against, and one abstention. There were 19 lawmakers who were absent when the death penalty bill was voted that day on third and final reading.

Net approval of the proposal to revive the death penalty is +38 (61% strongly/somewhat approve minus 23% somewhat/strongly disapprove), classified by SWS as “good.”

The SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of +70 and above as “excellent”; +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 as “execrable.”

The pollster also noted that this net approval was highest among those with “extensive” knowledge about the proposal, yielding a “very good” +59 (78% approve, 19% disapprove), followed by those with “partial but sufficient knowledge,” at “very good” + 51 ( 70% approve, 18% disapprove, correctly rounded), those with “only a little knowledge,” at “good” + 30 ( 54% approve, 25% disapprove, correctly rounded), and those with “almost no knowledge,” at “neutral” net zero ( 33% approve, 34% disapprove, correctly rounded).

Meanwhile, the SWS said the proportion of those with either extensive knowledge or partial but sufficient knowledge of the proposal was highest in Metro Manila at 54%, followed by “Balance Luzon” at 51%, Visayas at 49%, and Mindanao at 37%.

Those with either only a “little knowledge or almost no knowledge at all” about the proposal was highest in Mindanao at 63%, followed by Visayas at 51%, “Balance Luzon” at 49%, and Metro Manila at 46%.

The proportion of those with either “extensive knowledge or partial but sufficient knowledge” about the proposal was highest in class ABC at 65%, followed by class D or the masa at 49%, and class E at 35%.