DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 31 December) – President Rodrigo Duterte’s net satisfaction rating has remained “very good” nationwide, at +60 in December 2018, up by six points from September but fell down by four points in his own Mindanao, the recently released Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows.
Duterte’s rating rose across the SWS classifications of the National Capital Region or Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas, Urban Poor, Rural Poor, and socio-economic classes ABC, D and E, but dropped in Mindanao.
His ratings went up in Metro Manila (from +36 in September to +58 in December), Visayas (+49 to +62) and the balance of Luzon (+49 to +52), but went down in Mindanao, from +77 to +73.
Although still classified as “excellent” by the SWS, +73 is the lowest rating Mindanawons gave him in the 10 quarterly surveys on net satisfaction rating that SWS has done since 2016 when Duterte was elected as the country’s 16th President, the first Mindanawon to lead the nation.
A review of the 10 SWS surveys from September 2016 shows that Duterte’s net satisfaction rating nationwide has consistently been pulled up by Mindanao, which has been giving him ratings of +70s and +80s per quarter, compared with the +30s to +60s ratings from Metro Manila, balance of Luzon and the Visayas.
Outside Mindanao, the President received a rating above +70 only once, in June 2017: in the Visayas.
In Mindanao, the President’s net satisfaction rating was +85 in September 2016 but fell to +74 in December that year. In 2017, it was +87 in March, down to 1+75 in June, +76 in September and +80 in December. In 2018, it was +82 in March, +76 in June, +77 in September and +73 in December.
The fourth quarter survey, conducted on December 16 to 19, 2018 found 74% of adult Filipinos satisfied, 11% undecided, and 15% dissatisfied with Duterte’s performance, for a net satisfaction rating of +60, classified by SWS as “very good,” from +54 in September, also classified as “very good.”
The +73 rating given by Mindanao, which Duterte placed under martial law since May 23, 2017, is still classified by the SWS as “excellent.’’\
According to the SWS terminology for Net Satisfaction Ratings, “excellent” is +70 and above; “very good” is +50 to +69; “good” is +30 to +49; “moderate” is +10 to +29; “neutral” is +9 to –9; “poor” is –10 to –29; “bad” is –30 to –49; “very bad” is –50 to –69; and “execrable” is –70 and below.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s net satisfaction rating in Mindanao from September 2016 to December 2018, based on SWS surveys.
In a statement, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President’s satisfactory rating “puts a lie to critics and detractors who find nothing good in his style of governance.”
“The support of the Filipinos for our Chief Executive also sends a strong message to foreign human rights groups and foreign governments to put a stop to their baseless and unkind accusations on his war on drugs,” Panelo said.
“In addition, the survey result is a slap on their faces for their outrageous intrusion on the sovereignty of our country,’’ he said.
The December 2018 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 16-19, 2018 using face-to-face interviews nationwide of 1,440 adults aged 18 years old and above, with 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, with sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
