Seven out of 10 Filipinos are satisfied with how democracy works, the Social Weather Stations said on Thursday.
The SWS survey showed that more than half of respondents noted that democracy is always preferable to any other kind of government.
The SWS survey comes at a time as Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the “People Power” uprising that toppled the Marcos administration and restored democracy in the country.
The SWS said it found 76 percent of Filipino adults satisfied with the way democracy works, barely changed from 77 percent in June 2015 when last fielded.
The survey question posed to respondents is: “On the whole, are you (very satisfied; fairly satisfied; not very satisfied; not at all satisfied) with the way democracy works in the Philippines?”
The SWS said satisfaction with the way democracy works has been above 60 percent since June 2010, although it hit a high of 80 percent in June 2013.
However, from October 1999 to June 2009, it exceeded 50 percent in only 2 out of 31 surveys.
According to the pollster, satisfaction with the way democracy works peaked at 70 percent in September 1992, 70 percent in July 1998, and 68 percent in June 2010, which the SWS said to be “obviously related to the successful presidential elections of 1992, 1998, and 2010, respectively.”
After the senatorial elections in May 2013, a record-high of 80 percent was reached.
The SWS likewise noted that only 44% were satisfied with the way democracy works after the presidential elections in 2004.
There are also 18% of respondents who said “under some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one”, three points down from 21% in June last year.
It ranged from 15% to 23% in 2007 to 2009, and from 18% to 27% in 2010 to 2015.Ӭ
However, the SWS survey also showed an increase in the number of respondents who said, “for people like me, it does not matter whether we have a democratic or a non-democratic regime” to 23% in December, from June’s 20%.
It ranged from 16% to 23% in 2010 to 2015.Ӭ
The survey also showed that in June 2008, February 2009 and June 2009 it stood at 28%.
It then went down to 16% in September 2010, March 2012 in June 2013 then increased to 21% in September 2013 then up to 20% in June 2015 and 23% in December 2015.