Aquino ratings remain high in latest Pulse Asia poll

The high approval rating of President Benigno Aquino III’s performance declined only slightly while his trust rating was virtually unchanged, results of a survey that Pulse Asia conducted last month showed.

Pulse Asia said Mr. Aquino registered an approval rating of 72 percent in November, down from 77 percent in the previous quarter. His trust rating stood at 74 percent, a slight decline from 75 percent.

“For the most part, Filipinos’ assessment of presidential performance and trustworthiness remains constant between August and November,” Pulse Asia yesterday said in a statement. It said the changes were “marginal at best” given the margin of error  of +/- 3 percentage points.

But Pulse Asia said “disenchantment with the Aquino administration’s performance on selected national issues became more pronounced,” with the biggest increase in disapproval of how it addresses poverty.

Disapproval of its efforts at “reducing the poverty of many Filipinos” went up 15 percentage points from 21 percent in May to 36 percent in November.

The number of poor people has increased despite economic growth over the past decade, indicating that the fruits of expansion are not trickling down to the poor.

Not surprisingly, the approval rating of the President dropped by 11 points among Class E (the poorest of the poor) from 86 percent in August to 75 percent. It declined in Class D (the poor) from 74 percent to 71 percent) and Class ABC (from 68 percent to 65 percent).

Population growth

The government’s efforts at “controlling fast population growth” also earned a double-digit increase in the disapproval rate—up 11 percentage points from 14 percent in May to 25 percent in November.

The government is pushing for a reproductive health bill, which seeks to provide couples access to family planning methods, but the measure is strongly opposed by the Catholic Church.

Pulse Asia conducted the survey from Nov. 10 to 23. It was on Nov. 15 when the Department of Justice prevented former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from leaving the country despite the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order on the watch-list order against her.

Arroyo’s arrest

The survey also coincided with Arroyo’s arrest on Nov. 18 on charges of electoral sabotage, a nonbailable offense, in connection with the 2007 senatorial elections.

The noncommissioned survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents nationwide.

Mr. Aquino maintained majority approval ratings in all geographic areas (ranging from 64 percent to 82 percent) and socioeconomic classes (ranging from 65 percent to 75 percent).

He also maintained majority trust ratings in all geographic areas (between 69 percent and 87 percent) and socioeconomic classes (68 percent to 76 percent).

The percentage of those who disapproved of Aquino’s performance increased from 4 percent in August to 9 percent in November.

Distrust

Nineteen percent were undecided whether they approved or disapproved of his performance, up from 18 percent in the previous quarter

The survey found that those who expressed distrust in the President increased from 5 percent in August to 9 percent in November.

Those who were undecided whether they trust or distrust Mr. Aquino decreased from 19 percent to 17 percent over the same period.

Except in the Visayas, where Mr. Aquino gained 2 percentage points in his approval rating (from 80 percent in August to 82 percent in November), the President posted declines in Mindanao (from 81 percent to 71 percent), Metro Manila (from 72 percent to 64 percent) and Luzon outside Metro Manila (from 76 percent to 70 percent).

His trust rating rose 13 points in the Visayas, from 74 percent in August to 87 percent in November.

It dropped 12 percentage points in Mindanao, from 82 percent in August to 70 percent in November. It also declined in Metro Manila (from 74 percent to 69 percent) and Luzon outside Metro Manila (from 73 percent to 71 percent).

The President’s trust rating increased among Class ABC (from 64 percent in August to 68 percent in November), but declined among Class E (from 82 percent to 76 percent) and Class D (from 74 percent to 73 percent).

Indecision

Among those who were undecided on Mr. Aquino’s trustworthiness, Pulse Asia noted a 12-point decrease in the Visayas, from 21 percent in August to 9 percent in November.

Indecision on Mr. Aquino’s trustworthiness increased in Mindanao by 7 points, from 13 percent to 20 percent.

In the survey, respondents were also made to express approval, disapproval or indecision on the President’s performance on selected national concerns.

Mr. Aquino’s administration earned majority approval ratings for curbing graft and corruption (56 percent, unchanged from the May figure), fighting criminality (53 percent) and law enforcement (53 percent).  Reports from Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research and INQUIRER.net

Originally posted: 11:48 am | Tuesday, December 6th, 2011