Pulse Asia: Most Filipinos give positive assessment of May 9 polls

Most Filipinos gave a positive assessment of the conduct of the May 9, 2016 elections, describing it as fast, orderly, and not marred by cases of electoral violence, the results of a survey conducted by Pulse Asia released on Monday showed.

“Virtually all Filipinos are of the view that the release of the results of the May 2016 elections in their place was fast (92 percent), characterize the conduct of the elections in their place as orderly (93 percent), and say they did not observe any incidence of electoral violence (95 percent),” Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes said in a statement.

A sizable majority of the respondents (83 percent) reported that no fraud poll occurred in their area. About 9 out of 10 respondents (89 percent), on the other hand, described the electoral results as believable.

With regard to vote-buying, more Filipinos observed that there were no cases of vote-buying in their area during the May 9, 2016 elections compared to the May 2013 polls (66 percent to 59 percent, respectively).

In terms of credibility, more Filipinos deemed the results of the May 2016 elections as more credible and faster than the May 2010 elections.

The said sentiment was shared by the respondents from all geographic areas and socioeconomic groups.

The survey also showed that less than a quarter of Filipinos, or 22 percent, admit to having been offered money or any material thing in exchange for their vote during the May 2016 elections. Of those who were offered money or a material thing in exchange of their vote, 76 percent of them accepted it.

Eight out of 10 respondents, or 83 percent, who accepted money for their vote last May 9, 2016 elections spent it to buy food. Other respondents said that they used the money to pay their utility bills (17 percent), pay tuition and other school-related expenses, (13 percent), kept the money given to them (9 percent), buy alcohol products (6 percent) or cellphone card (4 percent), or paid their rent or mortgage with it (3 percent).

Asked if they voted for the candidates who offered money to them, 49 percent of respondents said that they opted to support some, but not all, of the candidates who made such offer to them.

The survey was conducted from July 2 to 8, 2016 with 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

It has a ± 3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level. Subnational estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey have a ± 6 percent error margin, also at 95 percent confidence level. RAM

RELATED STORIES

What I learned as a foreign observer of PH elections

Violence, vote-buying still rampant in PH polls—US NGO