President’s intelligence, gov’t experience mean little to voters

Filipino voters do not really consider the intellect or the previous experience in government of candidates in choosing their next president — this is according to a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) months before the May 9 national polls.

The results of the September 2 to 5, 2015 survey,  conducted in cooperation with Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute of Philippine Culture, were revealed only on Monday in a public forum.

The most important attribute that the respondents looked for  in presidential candidates was “concern for the poor” with 69 percent. It is followed by “personal integrity” with 61.4 percent and “principled stance” with 55.1 percent.

Only 38.6 percent of the respondents considered intelligence as an important attribute of a presidential candidate. It is followed by “experience in government” and “platform of government” with only 18.3 percent and 16.3 percent of respondents putting premium on those characteristics, respectively.

The names of presidential candidate were the least important attribute that respondents considered in choosing their next president, with 4.0 percent.

It was noted that “concern for the poor” was important for a majority in all classes: 76 percent in Class E, 69 percent in Class D and 54 percent in Class ABC. Personal integrity and principled stance likewise got majority percentages across all social classes.

As for the intelligence of the presidential candidates, less than 40 percent across all social classes deemed it as an important attribute: 38.2 percent in Class ABC, 39.1 percent in Class D and 36.6 percent in Class D.

Previous experience in government of candidates was an important characteristic for 20 percent of Class ABC and Class D respondents while it only mattered to 10 percent of Class E respondents.

The survey had 1,200 respondents nationwide.

The data from this survey were then utilized by a team of researchers from the Ateneo’s Institute of Philippine Culture in their study on the voting practices of impoverished voters for the 2016 national and local elections.

The SWS data complemented the in-depth ethnographic study which involved a total of 119 key respondents in communities in Quezon City, Camarines Sur, Tacloban City and Zamboanga City.

The preliminary findings in the said study showed that there are five prevailing views as to how poor voters view vote selling: money from vote selling as “biyaya (blessing);” money from vote selling as their rightful money; money from vote selling as “earned” money; money from vote selling as accessible money; and money from vote selling as “dead” money.

The study emphasized that poor voters are thinking voters.

The study, called “Vote of the Poor 2016,” is led by Filomeno Aguilar, PhD with co-investigators Jose Jowel Canuday, PhD; Lisandro Claudio, PhD; and Jayeel Cornelio, PhD. RAM

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