Pulse Asia: Binay still has highest approval, trust ratings

MANILA, Philippines – Vice-President Jejomar Binay still has the highest approval and trust ratings among the top five officials of the country, results of Pulse Asia’s November 2011 Ulat ng Bayan survey released Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, revealed.

Binay got 83% performance rating, the Pulse Asia survey revealed (with only 4% disapproval and 12% undecided), besting President Benigno Aquino III (72% approval, 19% undecided, 9% disapprove) and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (60% approval, 28% undecided, 11% disapprove).

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte got a 45% approval rating, a “plurality sentiment” toward his performance at the House of Representatives, the survey said. His Undecided rating stands at 36%, and disapproval at 16%.

Embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was impeached yesterday, had the lowest approval rating of the three, standing at 38% – roughly equal to the percentage of people undecided about his work at the Supreme Court. He has a 24% disapproval rating.

The five officials also have roughly the same approval ratings when broken down based on geographic areas and socioeconomic classes, the survey firm said.

Pulse Asia said the current ratings aren’t significantly different from those recorded in August 2011, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

Binay also got an 83% rating on trustworthiness, also the highest among the five officials. Aquino enjoys trust from 74% of FIlipinos; Enrile, 59%; Belmonte, 41%; and Corona, 29%.

The survey firm noted that the 6-percentage point rise in Corona’s distrust rating was the most significant movement recorded between August and November 2011.

Institutions

Meanwhile, a small majority of Filipinos approves of the performance of the Supreme Court and the Senate, both at 52% rating. The House of Representatives, on the other hand, has a 45% approval rating.

Despite this, all three institutions have double-digit disapproval ratings (Senate at 17%, House at 19%, and SC at 19%), and all have increased by several percentage points between August at November 2011.

Trust ratings for the Senate, House, and SC are also along the same levels (51%, 45%, and 53%, respectively).

Pulse Asia said the survey was conducted from November 10 to 23, 2011, based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults. It has a ± 3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level at the national level, while ± 6% at the subnational (regional – Metro Manila, rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) level.

“Pulse Asia undertakes Ulat ng Bayan surveys on its own without any party singularly commissioning the research effort,” the group said. – Rappler.com