Survey says: PH voters do set high standards
What do Filipino voters look for in a candidate? If a recent Social Weather Stations survey were to be believed, most respondents prefer candidates who “will not be corrupt.”
Despite one campaign manager’s cynical observation that “everybody lies” when it comes to politics, Filipino voters say they are looking for senatorial candidates who “will not be corrupt,” according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The survey, released on Friday, was commissioned by private think tank Stratbase ADR Institute and was conducted from Dec. 16 to 19, 2018, way before the “everybody lies” comment was uttered by President Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the campaign manager of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago regional party.
One-fourth, or 25 percent, of the 1,440 respondents said that “not being corrupt” was the top quality of a senatorial candidate that Filipinos would vote for, followed by “concern for the poor,” with 22 percent.
The other top qualities listed were: “good personal characteristics” and “trustworthy,” both with 21 percent each, followed by “concern for those in need,” which got 20 percent.
Leaders PH needs
The other qualities mentioned by respondents were: “walks his talk, or fulfills promises,” with 14 percent; “can give solutions to the problems of the country,” 9 percent; “approachable,” 7 percent; “has good leadership qualities,” 6 percent; “knows how to listen and confer with other people,” 5 percent; and “has faith in God,” 5 percent.
“We deserve leaders who are not corrupt, have good character, and are trustworthy,” said Dindo Manhit, lead convener of Democracy Watch and President of Stratbase ADR Institute, in their media release.
“Analyzing a candidate’s credibility, competence and integrity is therefore [the] responsibility of a voter. These can be measured by looking into their education, experience, record, advocacies and platforms,” Manhit added.
In Metro Manila, the most mentioned qualities were “trustworthy” (28 percent), “will not be corrupt” (25 percent) and “concern for the poor” (23 percent).
In Luzon outside Manila, “will not be corrupt” (26 percent), “trustworthy” ( 22 percent), “concern for the poor” (21 percent) and “good personal characteristics” (20 percent) were cited most frequently.
In the Visayas, “will not be corrupt” (27 percent) also topped the qualities mentioned, followed by “concern for the poor” (26 percent).
In Mindanao, the respondents mentioned “good personal characteristics” (29 percent) and “concern for those in need” (26 percent).
Commissioned poll
Stratbase ADR Institute, through its project Democracy Watch, commissioned the survey on the “Qualities that One is Looking for in a Senatorial Candidate of the Philippines.”
No list of answers was provided to prompt the respondents in the Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, and used faceto-face interviews with 1,440 adults nationwide, of which 1,363 are registered voters.
Analyzing a candidate’s credibility, competence and integrity is therefore [the] responsibility of a voter. These can be measured by looking into their education, experience, record, advocacies and platforms Dindo Manhit Lead convener of Democracy Watch and president of Stratbase ADR Institute