Satisfaction in Duterte government slips in Q3, but rating still ‘very good’ – survey

MANILA, Philippine – Public satisfaction in the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte slipped by 6 points in the 3rd quarter of the year, but its net rating remained “very good” at +67, according to the results of the Social Weather Stations survey released Wednesday, November 6.

The SWS survey done on September 27-30 found that 77% of adult Filipinos were satisfied with the Duterte administration, with 11% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 10% dissatisfied. 

SWS arrives at net satisfaction rating by subtracting the percentage of “dissatisfied” from the “satisfied.”

The +67 rating is 6 points below the government’s record-high “excellent” +73 mark (82% satisfied, 9% dissatisfied) in June 2019, and similar to the “very good” +66 in December 2018.

SWS said its terminology for net satisfaction ratings are:  

• +70 and above, “excellent” 
• +50 to +69, “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” 
• –70 and below, “execrable” 

The survey firm added that it considered movements from one classification to another as either an “upgrade” or “downgrade.”

The survey question asked on public satisfaction of the government was: “Sa pangkalahatan, gaano po kayo nasisiyahan o hindi nasisiyahan sa kasalukuyang administrasyong nasyonal? Kayo po ba ay: Lubos na nasisiyahan; medyo nasisiyahan; hindi tiyak kung nasisiyahan o hindi; medyo hindi nasisiyahan; o lubos na hindi nasisiyahan.”

(On the overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the present national administration? Are you very satisfied; somewhat satisfied; undecided if satisfied or not; somewhat dissatisfied; very dissatisfied?)

Metro Manila residents gave the government its biggest boost this quarter with a 12-point jump from the previous quarter. From a “very good” net rating of +59  in June, the National Capital Region delivered an “excellent” +71 in September.

The Duterte administration also maintained its “excellent” tally in the Visayas and Mindanao. However, SWS noted that the government skidded in Mindanao by 10 points from +80 in June to +70 in September.

Out of 16 specific issues raised in the SWS survey, the Duterte government got “very good” marks in 3. These were in the issues of helping the poor (+62 net), providing information needed by the citizens to properly examine what the government is doing (+54), and having clear policies (+53).

The rest of the scores on specific issues, or what the SWS dubbed as the “Governance Report Card,” ranked from highest to lowest are:

• Fighting terrorism (+49 net)
• Developing a healthy economy (+48)
• Protecting the freedom of the press (+47) 
• Acting according to what the people want (+44)
• Fighting crimes that victimize ordinary citizens, like killings, holdups, robberies, physical violence, etc (+43)
• Reconciliation with Muslim rebels (+40)
• Foreign relations (+39)
• Reconciliation with communist rebels (+38)
• Eradicating graft and corruption in government (+32)
• Recovering ill-gotten wealth of former Pres. Marcos and his cronies (+30)
• Defending Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea (+30) 
• Ensuring that no family will ever be hungry and have nothing to eat (+28) 
• Fighting inflation (+5)

Among socioeconomic classes, the Duterte administration improved from “very good” to “excellent”  in class ABC, up by 18 points from +60 in June to +78 in September.

The government’s net satisfaction dipped from “excellent” to “very good” among the masa or Class D and Class E. It fell by 7 points in Class D – from +73 in June 2019 to +66 in September 2019. In Class E, the decline was 5 points, from +73 in June to +68 in September. 

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults nationwide: 600 each in Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and 300 each in Metro Manila and the Visayas. The sampling error margins was ±2.3% for national, ±4% each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and ±6% each for Metro Manila and the Visayas.

SWS said the area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2019 to obtain the national estimates.

“The quarterly Social Weather Survey items on public satisfaction with the general performance of the National Administration, and its performance on specific subjects, are non-commissioned. These items are included on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” the polling firm said. – Rappler.com