SWS: Pinoys’ trust ratings ‘very good’ for US, ’neutral’ for China

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos’ net trust rating for the United States was “very good” but only “neutral” for China, according to a recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey results, released on Wednesday and posted on the SWS website, show a +60 net trust rating for the US and a -7 net trust rating for China.

Meanwhile, Japan and Australia both had “good” net trust rating with +34 and +31, respectively.

SWS said the net trust ratings improved for Japan and China, while ratings were maintained for US and Australia.

China’s trust rating rose by 23 points from -16 in September 2018 to -7 in December 2018, while Japan’s trust rating was up by six points from +28 in September 2018 to +34 in December 2018.

The survey was conducted from Dec. 16 to 19, 2018, using interviews with 1,440 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide — with 360 respondents each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The survey had sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The survey asked its respondents: “Pag-usapan po natin ang tungkol sa ilang bansa. Sa mga sumusunod, maaari po bang sabihin ninyo kung ang pagtitiwala ninyo sa (bansa) ay Napakalaki, Medyo malaki, Hindi tiyak kung malaki o maliit, Medyo maliit, Napakaliit, o Wala pa kayong narinig o nabasa kahit na kailan tungkol sa (bansa)? Pakisabi ang sagot ninyo sa pamamagitan ng paglagay ng mga kard sa naaangkop na lugar sa rating board na ito.”

[Let’s now talk about some countries. For the following, please indicate if your trust/faith in (country) is Very much, Somewhat much, Undecided if much or little, Somewhat little, Very little, or You have not heard or read anything about the (country) ever? You may indicate your answers by placing each card on the appropriate box on this rating board.] /atm