Aquino approval rating plunges, latest poll says

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s public satisfaction rating dropped nine points from +41 in September to +32 this month, according to the latest non-commissioned poll of the Social Weather Stations.

The approval rating is the lowest since June 2014 when Aquino slipped to +25 percent from average ratings of +55, +53 and +62 in the earlier years of his presidency.  

Conducted from December 5 to 8, SWS said it interviewed 1,200 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. 

According to the poll, 58 percent were satisfied from 64 percent in September, 16 percent undecided from 14 percent, and 26 percent dissatisfied from 22 percent.

The SWS said Aquino’s net satisfaction rating plunged by half from +46 in September to +23 in December in Luzon areas outside Metro Manila.

Aquino’s ratings also dropped by eight points in Mindanao from +39 in September to +31 in December.

In the National Capital Region and Visayas, Aquino’s ratings improved from +18 to +23, and +50 to +58, respectively.

Despite the decrease of satisfaction and the increase in both the dissatisfied and the undecided, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda maintained that Aquino’s public satisfaction rating remains among the highest in history.

“While these historically high figures encourage us in the administration, we measure success by other metrics that reflect the quality of life of our citizens,” said Lacierda.

“The Aquino administration continues to do its work not for survey results but toward the more tangible benefits of good governance—poverty alleviation, job increase, and economic expansion,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said a study conducted on the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program also show that 1.4-million households have already been able to rise above the poverty line as a result of the program.

“Indeed, the administration’s guiding principle of Daang Matuwid is truly oriented toward the Filipino people,” he said.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. attributed the high satisfaction rating from the Class E respondents to the implementation of the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

“We note further that socioeconomic Class E constitutes the main benefactors of the government’s poverty alleviation and social development programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps,” he said. 

4Ps is now on its eight year of implementation and covers about 4.4 million household, whose members include 10.1 million youth, eight million of whom are students and two million are toddlers.