SWS: PNoy administration maintains ‘good’ rating

On its first year in office, the Aquino administration continues to enjoy a favorable view from Filipinos as it garnered a “good" rating, higher those of previous administrations, according to a survey by pollster Social Weather Stations. The SWS published on Monday the results of the survey conducted June 3 to 6 in BusinessWorld, the poll firm's media partner, hours before President Benigno Aquino III was to deliver his second State of the Nation Address. The Aquino administration received a “good" net rating of +45 for June (62 percent satisfied, 17 percent dissatisfied and 19 percent ambivalent). It was down one point from March and substantially lower than the record “very good" +64 in September and November 2010. However, the SWS said it is still higher than all other scores recorded since 1986. The best previous rating was the “good" +36 of the Estrada administration in November 1998. The SWS classifies net satisfaction scores of +70 and above as “excellent"; +50 to +69, “very good"; +30 to +49, “good"; +10 to +29, “moderate"; +9 to -9, “neutral"; -10 to -29, “poor"; -30 to -49, “bad"; -50 to -69, “very bad"; and -70 and below “execrable." But the SWS said the Aquino administration got a "failing" mark on the resolution of the 2009 Maguindanao massacre where 57 people, including 32 journalists, were killed. The administration continued to be rated "poor" in terms of resolving the Maguindanao massacre, although its latest score of -16 was slightly better than March’s -19. The second-quarter Social Weather Survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. The sampling error margins were ±3 Monday for national and ±6 Monday for area percentages. Satisfied with 17 issues Respondents in the SWS survey were satisfied with the Aquino administration’s performance regarding 17 specific issues, with record highs hit in terms of helping migrant Filipinos and pursuing tax evaders. Net satisfaction with the Aquino administration’s general performance rose in Mindanao but fell in all other areas compared to the previous quarter. By socioeconomic class it rose among the ABC, stayed the same among the D (masa), and fell in the E category. In Mindanao, the score was up ten points to a “very good" +57. It stayed “good" in Balance Luzon but was down five points to +37. But the rating fell to “good" from “very good" levels in both the Visayas and Metro Manila, down four points to +47 in the Visayas and two points to +48 in Metro Manila. By class, a 26-point jump to a “good" +45 was notched among the ABC. A two-point gain was recorded among the masa to a “good" +48 but the score fell by 14 points in the E category to a “good" +36. Of the 17 specific issues tested, the Aquino administration scored a “good" on five, “moderate" on eight, “neutral" on three and “poor" on one. Two issues were new to the survey and the SWS said it repeats only a “core" set, with others added/dropped depending on their “contemporary salience." With regard to promoting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers, the government scored a record “good" +41, surpassing the previous peak -- a “moderate" +33 -- hit in March 2000. The issue was last tested by the SWS in December 2009 when the score was a “moderate" +26. The Aquino administration’s highest specific score came in terms of being prepared for strong typhoons -- the first time this issue was included in the survey -- at a “good" +46. Other “good" ratings involved helping the poor (+44, down three points from March), foreign relations (+43, down a point from March) and fighting terrorism (+30, up a point from three months earlier). The eight “moderate" ratings involved: