Duterte’s Approval, Trust Ratings Soar; Tracker Shows Only 57 Percent Think Gov’t Is Handling COVID Issue Well

Amid criticisms over his administration’s handling of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, President Duterte’s approval and trust ratings soared to 91 percent in the latest Pulse Asia survey.

But a tracker showed that the number of Filipinos who think that the government is handling the COVID-19 issue “very” or “somewhat” well declined since May.

Duterte obtained an approval rating of 91 percent in September from 87 percent in December last year, while disapproval of his work remained at five percent.

The remaining five percent of respondents were undecided, down from eight percent in December.

Pulse Asia’s Ulat ng Bayan survey released on Monday, Oct. 5, was conducted from Sept. 14 to 20 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 Filipino adults 18 years old and above.

The poll also found 91 percent of Filipinos who expressed trust in the President, up eight points from 83 percent in December. Only three percent distrust him, down from six percent in December.

Six percent of respondents could not say whether or not they trusted the chief executive, down from 10 percent in December.

Meanwhile, the YouGov COVID-19 tracker on the government’s handling of the pandemic shows 72 percent of Filipinos thinking that the government is handling the COVID-19 issue “very” or “somewhat” well as of May 11; 74 percent as of May 8; 64 percent as of May 25; 64 percent (June 1); 62 percent (June 8); 58 percent (June 15); 59 percent (June 22); 51 percent (June 29); 52 percent (July 20); 55 percent (Aug. 3); 55 percent (Aug. 17); 52 percent (Aug. 31); 56 percent (Sept. 14) and 57 percent as of Sept. 28.

YouGov is a British international internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the United Kingdom and with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

As per another YouGov COVID-19 tracker, 63 percent of Filipinos have “a lot” or “fair amount” of confidence in the health authorities to respond to the pandemic as of May 29; 58 percent as of June 28; 59 percent (July 9); 56 percent (July 24); 56 percent (Aug.7) and 57 percent as of Aug. 21.

Who’s politicking?

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo obtained a 57 percent approval rating in Pulse Asia’s September survey, from 58 percent in December.

Twenty-two percent said they disapproved of the Vice President’s performance, up from 20 percent. Indecision with regard to Robredo’s work stayed at 21 percent.

Trust in Robredo also fell to 50 percent from 53 percent, while those who expressed distrust in her rose from 20 percent to 22 percent. The remaining 28 percent were undecided, up from 26 percent.

Malacañang thanked the public for Duterte’s high survey numbers and attributed Robredo’s lower trust and performance ratings to “politicking.”

“Thank you very much to the people. The President got 91 percent trust and performance approval ratings,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing on Monday. “The promise of the President is he will do everything so we can recover from this pandemic and he will set aside politics.”

Addressing Robredo, he said, “Madam VP, it seems that what I said was right. It appears that Filipinos do not want politicking during the pandemic. Try to stop politicking, your trust rating of 50 percent and performance rating of 57 percent might go up.”

“The appeal of the President to politicians: set aside politics. The elections will be held in 2022,” he added.

Robredo’s spokesperson, lawyer Barry Gutierrez, said Roque was right in saying the people do not want politicking. Gutierrez said this is precisely the reason why the Vice President gets to keep the support of Filipinos despite a meager budget, sustained demolition job and spreading of fake news on Facebook.

“She continues to work for the sake of the many. We thank our fellow Filipinos who continue to recognize her unrelenting service to our people,” Gutierrez added in a statement in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s approval rating stayed at 84 percent in the Pulse Asia poll, while his disapproval score increased by a point to six percent.

His trust rating increased by a point to 79 percent, while distrust in him was unchanged at five percent.

Sotto said he was gratified by the results of the polls even as he vowed to continue to work hard amid the pandemic.

“It’s nice to know that our people acknowledge my effort as the leader of the Senate. I will continue to remain consistent and commit to work hard even during these uncertain times,” Sotto told reporters.

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go described the results of the poll as a continuing vote of confidence of the Filipino people in the leadership of Duterte.

“True to his words, the President continues to deliver on his campaign promise of providing a better and more comfortable life for all despite the challenges caused by the ongoing pandemic,” Go said in a statement.

He added that while the approval rating was heartening, “our work to serve our countrymen is not yet over.”

“President Duterte and I will continue serving you as much as we can. Even without a high approval rating, we will serve for the benefit of our fellow Filipinos,” he said in Filipino.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano suffered the biggest drop in approval rating, falling to 70 percent in September from 80 percent in December last year. Those who disapproved of his performance rose to 10 percent from six percent.

Cayetano’s trust rating also fell from 76 percent in December 2019 to 67 percent in September. Those who expressed distrust in him increased from six percent to nine percent.

Meanwhile, 44 percent of Filipinos approved of the performance of Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, against 13 percent who said otherwise.

The chief magistrate obtained a trust rating of 39 percent and 13 percent distrust score.

There was no comparative data for Peralta since this was the first time he was included in the Ulat ng Bayan survey, Pulse Asia explained.

The survey has an error margin of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, at the 95 percent confidence level.

 “During the period December 2019 to September 2020, the only notable changes in these top government officials’ performance ratings are recorded by Vice President Robredo and House Speaker Cayetano,” Pulse Asia said.

 Robredo’s approval rating went up among Visayans by 13 percentage points, while Cayetano experienced several movements in his own ratings, including a 10-point drop in his approval score at the national level; a decline in his approval ratings in the rest of Luzon, the Visayas, and Class D; an increase in the level of appreciation for his performance among respondents in Metro Manila, and a rise in the indecision figure in the Visayas.

 With regard to trust ratings, trust in Duterte became more notable between December 2019 and September 2020 not only at the national level but also in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, Pulse Asia said.

 Robredo’s trust scores rose in Metro Manila and the Visayas, but the reverse was registered in Mindanao.

 Distrust in the Vice President eased in Metro Manila but became more manifest in Mindanao, the pollster said. – With Aurea Calica, Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero