President Duterte remained largely popular among the people and is poised to set an unprecedented record of being the first Chief Executive to step down on a high note.
A survey by the PUBLiCUS’ PAHAYAG 2022 conducted from March 30 to April 6 gave the President a 67.2-percent approval, representing a 9.3 percent improvement over his 57.9 percent mark during the third quarter of 2021 as indicated by the same pollster.
PUBLiCUS said Duterte’s approval rating was higher in April 2022 than at any point in 2021.
His popularity remained high as suggested by the firm’s 2021 quarterly surveys, giving him ratings ranging from a low of 57.9 percent in July 2021 to a high of 64.9 percent in March and December 2021.
The latest survey covered 1,500 respondents who said they “approve” or “strongly approved” his performance over the past year.
Meanwhile, 61.2 percent of the respondents also rated Duterte’s trustworthiness as ‘high’ or ‘very high’ as opposed to his marks in 2021 which ranged from a low of 50.4% in July to a high of 55.1% in January.
“President Duterte is on pace to become the first president in recent history to end his term with approval and trust ratings above 50 percent. The longevity of President Duterte’s popularity is a rarity in Philippine presidential politics,” said PUBLiCUS executive director Aureli Sinsuat.
Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III also notched five-quarter highs with their April 2022 trust ratings with 27.2 percent of the respondents saying they had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ trust in Robredo, compared to Sotto’s 25.3% percent.
However, Robredo also earned the highest Total Disapproval and Total Low Trust rating of 42.2 percent among the top five government officials. Nearly half of the respondents (48.2 percent) said they had ‘no trust’ or ‘low trust’ in Robredo.
“Vice President Robredo’s relatively poor approval and trust ratings are likely attributable in part to her branding as the leader of the opposition. 42.9 percent of survey respondents identified themselves as “mildly” or “strongly anti-opposition.”
This is “practically identical to her 42.2 percent disapproval rating, and close to her 48.2 percent Total Low Trust rating,” Sinsuat noted.
“The data suggest a harsh electoral climate for opposition standard bearers going into the May 9 election. The majority of voters are likely looking for a candidate who would continue the policies and programs of the popular outgoing president—not someone who would oppose them,” Sinsuat added.
PAHAYAG 2022 First Quarter Survey was an independent, non-commissioned nationwide purposive sampling poll conducted by PUBLiCUS between March 30 and April 6, 2022.
The 1,500 respondents who participated in the survey were randomly drawn by the Singapore office of American firm PureSpectrum from its market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos.
The final survey panel was restricted to registered voters. Parameters based on respondent age, gender, and location were also utilized in the sample formulation in order for the resulting sample to conform more closely to the features of the voting population, as defined by statistics from the Commission on Elections.