Aquino’s ratings hold–Pulse Asia

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–While President Benigno Aquino’s trust and approval ratings remained “constant,” those of other ranking government officials registered marked changes one way or the other, results of the latest Pulse Asia survey showed.

The March 19-26 poll released yesterday showed upward ticks in the approval and trust ratings of Vice President Jejomar Binay and Senate President Franklin Drilon.

But among three government institutions—the Senate, House of Representatives and Supreme Court—only the latter received a positive approval rating.

The survey showed Mr. Aquino’s approval rating at 70 percent (22 percent undecided, 8 percent disapproved), down from December’s 73 percent.

Trust in the President also went down to 69 percent from 74 percent in December, dropping across all areas and classes.

“The movements in President Aquino’s ratings at the national level and across geographic areas and socioeconomic groupings are not considered significant as they fall within the relevant error margins,” said Pulse Asia.

Binay recorded an approval rating of 87 percent (11 percent undecided, 2 percent disapproved), up seven ticks from 80 percent in December.

Drilon scored 58-percent approval (23 percent undecided, 18 percent disapproved), up 15 points from his previous 43

percent.

Trust in Binay and Drilon both also climbed—to 86 percent from 77 percent and 55 percent from 40 percent, respectively, across all areas and classes.

Binay registered gains across areas and classes, improving his trust ratings in the rest of Luzon (90 percent from 78 percent), Mindanao (87 percent from 80 percent), the Visayas (79 percent from 74 percent) and Metro Manila (78 percent from 77 percent).

The Vice President also posted a marked increase among Classes ABC (80 percent from 64 percent), D (86 percent from 77 percent) and E (87 percent from 83 percent).

Likewise, Drilon improved his trust ratings across all areas, with significant increases in Visayas (66 percent from 48 percent), Mindanao (57 percent from 41 percent) and the rest of Luzon (52 percent from 36 percent), and Metro Manila (44 percent from 38 percent).

Approval of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno both slid—to 36 percent (45 percent undecided, 15 percent disapproved) and 40 percent (44 percent undecided, 13 percent disapproved), respectively.

The Supreme Court posted an approval rating of 53 percent, while the Senate and the House of Representatives both slid four points to 41 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults aged 18 and older. It had a margin of error of plus-or-minus three percentage points. Rafael L. Antonio, Inquirer Research

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