Poll: Fewer Pinoys Approve Of Gov’t COVID Response

The number of Filipinos who approved of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly dropped following a surge of new cases caused by the Delta variant, a survey conducted by OCTA Research showed.

Although the survey was conducted from Sept. 11 to 16, its results were released only on Thursday, Nov. 11. It showed that the government’s approval rating on pandemic response dropped from 80% in July to just 50%.

Those who disapprove of what the government is doing increased from 7% to 23% , while those who cannot say if they approve or disapprove increased from 13% to 27%.

“Please also note that the survey was conducted last Sept. 11 to 16 during the peak of the surge in the National Capital Region,” OCTA fellow Ranjit Rye said. “We expect that the ratings for the government’s response to COVID-19 to improve in the last quarter.”

The government’s approval rating on COVID response decreased in all areas, with the highest among those in Mindanao at 78% (from 84%). It was followed by those in balance Luzon at 46% (from 83%), Metro Manila at 38% (from 87%) and Visayas at 35% (from 65%).

Disapproval is highest among those in the Visayas at 31% (from 12%), followed by those in Metro Manila at 29% (from 7%), rest of Luzon at 27% (from 7%) and Mindanao at 7% (from 6%).

Fewer people are aware of the government’s efforts to upgrade the capacity of hospitals, from 61% in July to 50% in September, although awareness of other programs has increased during the same period.

These include COVID-19 testing (from 80% to 84%), contact tracing (from 75% to 81%) and building isolation and quarantine facilities (from 76% to 78%).

The same poll showed that 68% of respondents identified staying healthy among their most urgent personal concern, followed by having a secure and well-paying job or source of income at 53%, to finish schooling or provide education for their children (50%) and to avoid being a victim of any serious crime (45%).

Other top personal concerns include having enough to eat every day (41%), to have their own house and lot (21%) and to have savings (21%).

National concerns

The respondents were also asked to identify their top three most urgent national concerns, with controlling the pandemic and increasing the salaries of workers tied in first spot at 43%.

It was closely followed by controlling the increase in prices of basic goods (42%), fighting graft and corruption in government (29%), access to affordable food (27%), reducing poverty of Filipinos (23%) and providing free quality education (21%).

Other national concerns include creating more jobs (16%), promoting peace and order (11%) and reducing the amount of taxes paid by Filipinos (10%), equal enforcement of the law (8%), fighting criminality (7%) and protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (5%).

Obtaining less than 5% were stopping the destruction and abuse of environment, controlling fast population growth, preparing for a terrorist thread, defending the integrity of Philippine territory from foreigners and changing the Constitution.

Some respondents also wrote specific concerns such as construction of cell sites to address lack of signal, electrification, irrigation and equal distribution of financial assistance.

The survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 3% for national percentages.