War on drugs’ net satisfaction rating drops in Q3 2019 – SWS survey

MANILA, Philippines — While 8 out of 10 Filipinos said they are satisfied with President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, the campaign’s net satisfaction rating slightly dropped in September, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

According to the survey, 79 percent of Filipinos said they are satisfied with the campaign while 15 percent said they are dissatisfied. A mere 6 percent, meanwhile, said they are undecided.

This gives the campaign drive against illegal drugs a net satisfaction rating of +64 which is lower than the +70 rating recorded in June and March 2019.

The rating also dropped from “excellent” to “very good”, SWS said.

The survey showed that “drug suspects have lessened” is the top reason among those who said they are satisfied with the campaign. Other reasons cited were “drug suspects have been arrested” and “lessened crime.”

Those who are dissatisfied, meanwhile, cited the prevalence of drug trade and drug suspects as their main reason.

Split on police claims

Filipinos are split when it comes to believing or doubting legitimate police operations and slain  suspects resisting arrest or “nanlaban,”

The survey showed that 29 percent of Filipinos said that the police are lying about “nanlaban” cases while 26 percent believe that the lawmen’s claims, while the rest of the survey respondents were undecided.

Hence, the net opinion about the truthfulness of the police is at -3 at the end of the third quarter of 2019.

“Net opinion about the truthfulness of the police has been at single-digit neutral since it was first asked in December 2016, except for the record-low -20 in September 2017,” SWS said.

SWS further noted the following:

-Lower net satisfaction with President Rodrigo Duterte among those who do not believe the police’s claims of “nanlaban”
-Lower net satisfaction with Duterte among those dissatisfied with the anti-illegal drugs campaign
-Net opinion about the truthfulness of the police’s “nanlaban” claims is lowest in Metro Manila
-Net satisfaction with anti-illegal drugs campaign is highest in Mindanao

The September 2019 Social Weather Survey was conducted from September 27-30, 2019 using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults nationwide, with sampling error margins of ±2.3% for national percentages.

GSG