PRESIDENT Rodrigo Roa Duterte is starting his term with an excellent trust rating, with the latest Social Weather Stations survey showing Duterte’s net scores surging across geographic areas and social classes.
The survey, conducted via face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide, showed Duterte earning an “excellent” +79 net trust rating, with 54 percent saying they had “much trust” in him, while those who said that they had “little trust” in the President remained at 28 percent.
In the latest poll, Duterte also improved across all areas, with a 53-point rise attributable to increases of 66 points to +75 in June from +9 in May in “Balance Luzon,” 57 points to +78 from +21 in Metro Manila, 57 points to +74 from +17 in the Visayas, and by 23 points to +90 from +67 in Mindanao. Ratings across all areas were “excellent.”
Malacañang welcomed the good news of the increased trust of the people towards the promise of change pitched by the Duterte administration.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that the new administration will continue its job of bringing the change that the President promised.
“It’s a positive sign and very encouraging to know that the people trust the judgment, decisions and actions of the President. The mandate is clear, the government cannot stop what it has started,” he said.
Lawmakers on Wednesday were similarly elated by the survey results.
In separate interviews with The Standard, former Speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Reps. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, Karlo Alexei Nograles of Davao City and Jericho Nograles of PBA party-list said that the overwhelming trust rating of President Duterte was an affirmation of people’s trust to his presidency.
Belmonte said the survey result with only five percent of those surveyed said they had “little trust” with the former Davao City mayor is “also a signal for us in Congress to be equally supportive of his administration.”
Nograles, a relative of the Dutertes, said the survey results showing President Duterte’s “excellent” trust ratings “reinforces the overwhelming mandate he received last election; and clearly shows the vast majority accepting him as one true President of the Republic.”
Barbers, for his part, said that being a Mindanaoan, he is proud with the Filipino people’s overwhelming support to the President. “He absolutely brought the island and its people into a different awareness in the Philippines and in the world,” he said.
The President got a “moderate” +16 in the SWS December 2015 survey. It hardly changed from January to February 2016, ranging from +13 to +17. It rose to a “moderate” +26 in March 2016, and reached a “good” +30 in April.
The Second Quarter 2016 Social Weather Survey, conducted June 24-27, has a sampling error margin of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, Luzon areas outside the nation’s capital, the Visayas and Mindanao.