■ FEWER RICH, MID-CLASS TRUST PRESIDENT DUTERTE

Duterte also gets lower approval rating in Visayas

Even though most Filipinos still trust President Rodrigo Duterte and approve of his performance despite the Marawi crisis and the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, results of the latest Pulse Asia Research survey showed that he is losing support from the ABC socio-economic class as manifested by a decline of 7 percentage points in both his approval and trust ratings. The survey, conducted on June 24 to 29 among 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, gave Duterte an approval rating of 79 percent from the ABC class, down 7 percentage points from 86 percent in March 2017.

Most Filipinos still trust President Rodrigo Duterte and approve of his performance despite the Marawi crisis and the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, results of the latest Pulse Asia Research survey showed.

However, Duterte is losing support from the ABC socio-economic class as manifested by a decline of 7 percentage points in both his approval and trust ratings.

The survey, conducted on June 24 to 29 among 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, gave Duterte an approval rating of 79 percent from the ABC class, down 7 percentage points from 86 percent in March 2017.

The President’s trust score from this socio-economic grouping also declined 7 percentage points to 77 percent from 84 percent in March.

On the other hand, Duterte continued to enjoy support from the D and E socio-economic classes, which gave him higher approval ratings of 82 percent and 84 percent as well as trust ratings of 81 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

Overall, Duterte received an approval rating of 82 percent, higher by 4 percentage points than the 78 percent he received in March 2017.

Duterte also earned the highest trust rating of 81 percent, higher by 5 percentage points from 76 percent in March, among top government officials covered by the survey.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella decribed the survey results as “pleasant news.”

In terms of geographic areas, Duterte registered the highest approval and trust ratings of 95 percent and 97 percent, respectively, in Mindanao, considered his bailiwick.

These despite Duterte’s issuance of Proclamation 216 on May 23 this year, which placed Mindanao under martial law following the eruption of clashes between government troops and the Maute terror group in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.

However, approval of the President’s performance in the Visayas went down by 2 percentage points to 84 percent in June from 86 percent in March.

The President enjoyed higher ratings in both Luzon and the National Capital Region (NCR).

Trust in the President was unchanged in the Visayas, at 84 percent in both March and June this year, but improved in other areas, increasing by 7 percentage points in NCR and Mindanao as well as by 6 percentage points in Luzon.

Among the other government officials covered by the survey, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III enjoyed the biggest increase of 7 percentage points to 62 percent; followed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, whose approval rating went up by 6 percentage points to 48 percent.

Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo also received a majority approval rating of 61 percent, up by 3 percentage points, while House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez received an approval rating of only 43 percent, higher by 3 percentage points.

Duterte received the lowest disapproval rating of 5 percent while Robredo got the highest disapproval rating of 17 percent, although Alvarez and Sereno also received double-digit disapproval ratings of 14 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Pulse Asia also noted that ambivalence toward the officials’ performance was “most marked toward House Speaker Alvarez,” at 38 percent, and least manifest in Duterte’s case (13 percent).

On the officials’ trustworthiness, the survey showed that public opinion was generally unchanged between March and June this year.

“Trust is the majority sentiment toward President Duterte (81 percent), Vice-President Robredo (60 percent), and Senate President Pimentel (58 percent) in June 2017,” Pulse Asia said.

“On the other hand, 41 percent of Filipinos either trust Speaker Alvarez or are ambivalent about his trustworthiness while Chief Justice Sereno records basically the same trust and indecision figures (43 percent versus 39 percent),” it added.

Pulse Asia noted the following significant movements in the trust ratings: a 7-percentage-point increase in Pimentel’s trust rating at the national level and a 12-percentage-point increase among Visayas; a 12-percentage-point increase in the level of trust in Alvarez in the Visayas; and an 8-percentage-point decrease in the indecision figure for Robredo in Class D.

Pulse Asia used a ±3 percentage points error margin at the 95-percent confidence level.