President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. KING RODRIGUEZ/ Presidential Photo (FILE)
(Updated, 10:53 a.m.) President Rodrigo Duterte’s performance and trust ratings dropped in the first quarter of 2017, according to a recent survey by Pulse Asia.
Duterte’s performance rating slipped by five percentage points to 78 percent in March from the 83 percent he obtained in December last year according to the latest poll released by the firm Wednesday.
READ: Duterte approval rating at 83%—Pulse Asia
The President’s trust rating, meanwhile, slid by seven percentage points to 76 percent in the latest period from the 83 percent recorded in December 2016, which the survey firm called as “the only significant movement occurring at this time.”
“Approval and trust continue to be the predominant sentiments toward President Rodrigo R. Duterte in March 2017; public assessment of the President’s performance and trustworthiness remains generally unchanged between December 2016 and March 2017, with the exception of the 7-percentage point decline in his national trust score,” Pulse Asia said in a news release.
Disapproval and distrust ratings of the President were set at 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, while indecision toward his performance and trustworthiness was expressed by 15 percent and 18 percent of respondents, respectively.
The survey, conducted from March 15 to 20 among 1,200 adult respondents, has a ± 3% error margin at the 95% confidence level.
Duterte got the highest ratings both in performance and trustworthiness in Mindanao (88 percent and 90 percent, respectively) and the lowest scores in the rest of Luzon (71 percent and 67 percent, respectively).
“Meanwhile, ambivalence concerning the President’s work and trustworthiness is most marked in the rest of Luzon (20% and 27%, respectively) and least pronounced in Mindanao (9% and 7%, respectively). Indecision toward presidential performance in Class ABC is also recorded at 9%,” Pulse Asia said.
“President Duterte enjoys single-digit disapproval and distrust scores in all geographic areas (3% to 9% and 3% to 8%, respectively) and socio-economic groupings (5% to 9% and 5% to 7%, respectively),” it added.
National issues in the weeks leading up to the survey period include the filing of an impeachment complaint against him by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, the testimony of confessed Davao Death Squad hit man Arturo Lascañas in the Senate, the investigation into the murder of South Korean businessman Jee-Ick Joo and the suspension of “Oplan Tokhang,” the video message of Vice President Leni Robredo to the UN commission on narcotic drugs, the resumption of peace talks with communist rebels, the approval of the death penalty at the House of Representatives, and the controversy surrounding the presence of Chinese vessels in Benham Rise.
READ: 1st impeachment complaint filed vs Duterte for killings, graft
Duterte got 86 percent for both his performance and trustworthiness in September 2016. IDL