Aquino rating back to ‘very good’ +62

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. AP

The Aquino administration’s net satisfaction rating bounced back to a “very good” net satisfaction rating of plus 62, gaining 18 points from the preceding quarter’s “good” net rating of plus 44, results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The survey, which used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 respondents, found that 72 percent of the respondents were satisfied, 17 percent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 10 percent were dissatisfied with the administration’s general performance.

SWS noted that the administration’s satisfaction rating was just two points short of its record rating of plus 64 in September and November 2010.

SWS considers net satisfaction ratings of plus 70 and above as “excellent”; plus 50 to plus 69, “very good”; plus 30 to plus 49, “good”; plus 10 to plus 29, “moderate”; plus 9 to minus 9, “neutral”; minus 10 to minus 29, “poor”; minus 30 to minus 49, “bad”; minus 50 to minus 69, “very bad,” and minus 70 and below, “execrable.”

The survey, conducted from Aug. 24 to 27, has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

SWS also asked respondents to rate the Aquino administration on 18 different issues.

Helping disaster victims

The results showed that the respondents were most satisfied with how the administration was helping victims of disasters as it  scored an “excellent” plus 73.

The administration posted “very good” scores in promoting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (plus 54), in helping the poor (plus 59), in handling foreign relations (plus 51), and in defending the country’s territorial rights (plus 50).

It scored “good” satisfaction ratings in the following: Distributing lands (plus 45), transparency (plus 44), fighting terrorism (plus 43), providing jobs (plus 43), fighting crime (plus 42), eradicating graft and corruption (plus 40), reconciliation with Moro rebels (plus 33), and reconciliation with communist rebels (plus 31).

“Moderate” ratings were posted in the following: Fighting inflation (plus 19), ensuring that no family would go hungry (plus 26), and ensuring that oil firms don’t take advantage of oil price increases (plus 13).

The administration’s only negative score was a “neutral” negative 4 on resolving the Maguindanao massacre case with justice, but this was a significant improvement from its “poor” negative 16 rating in May.

Across geographic areas, the administration’s satisfaction rating rose to a record high in the Visayas, increasing from a “moderate” plus 29 in May to a “very good” plus 64 this August.

The survey also showed that the rating increased by 20 percentage points in the rest of Luzon, from a “good” plus 45 in May to a “very good” plus 65 in August.

‘Very good,’ too, in masa class

The rating also increased from a “good” plus 41 to a “very good” plus 56 in Metro Manila, while it remained almost unchanged in the Mindanao from plus 58 to plus 59.

Across socioeconomic classes, the administration’s net satisfaction scores increased among members of Class ABC, from “moderate” plus 27 in May to “very good” plus 69 in August, as well as among the “masa” Class D, from “good” plus 44 to “very good” plus 62.

Net satisfaction among the poorest Class E remained “very good” at a rating plus 60.