Pulse: Aquino still enjoys high trust, approval ratings

Despite a rocky first year in office, President Benigno Aquino III continues to enjoy high majority and trust ratings, according to a survey by Pulse Asia. Pulse Asia, which posted the results of its latest survey on its website Thursday afternoon, said Aquino enjoys a big majority approval rating of 77 percent and a high trust rating of 75 percent. His trust rating for the survey conducted between Aug. 20 and Sept. 2 was higher than the 71 percent trust rating in an earlier survey conducted May 21 to June 4. The August-September survey trust rating also matched the 75 percent trust rating he had last March. But Pulse Asia said this cannot be considered a significant improvement especially because of the survey's error margin. "While President Aquino's overall approval and trust ratings go up by 6 and 4 percentage points respectively, between May and August 2011, these changes fall short of being significant given the survey's overall error margin of +/- 3 percentage points," it said. In contrast, less than one in ten Filipinos disapproves of presidential performance (4 percent) and distrusts the President (5 percent), Pulse Asia said. "Ambivalence toward the work done by President Aquino in the past three months is expressed by 18 percent of Filipinos while essentially the same percentage (19 percent) cannot say if they trust or distrust him. In general, these figures do not vary significantly from the national ratings obtained by the President in Pulse Asia’s May 2011 survey," it said. Same majority approval, trust ratings Pulse Asia said Aquino records basically the same majority approval and trust ratings across geographic areas (72 to 81 percent and 73 to 82 percent , respectively). However, across socio-economic classes, those in the poorest Class E grant higher approval and trust scores to the President (86 percent and 82 percent, respectively) than their counterparts in the best-off Class ABC (68 percent and 64 percent, respectively). Single-digit disapproval and distrust ratings are registered across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, with the only exception being the 11 percent distrust rating given to the President by those in Class ABC. Meanwhile, levels of indecision toward presidential performance and trustworthiness are generally constant across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings. The survey also showed double-digit gains in Aquino’s approval ratings occur between May and August 2011 in the Visayas (+12 percentage points) and Metro Manila (+15 percentage points). "During this period, there is also an improvement in the President’s trust rating in Metro Manila (+18 percentage points)," it said. On the other hand, criticism of presidential performance and distrust in Aquino ease somewhat between May and August 2011 among Metro Manilans (-10 percentage points). The other figures remain practically unchanged during this period, it said. Selected national issues Aquino received virtually the same grades on 11 national issues on which his first-year performance is evaluated by respondents to Pulse Asia’s August 2011 survey. "On a scale of 0 to 100, with 75 as the passing grade, President Aquino’s average or mean grades range from 75 (or “barely passing") on poverty reduction to 80 (or “good") on delivery of basic services to those in need," it said. Aquino scored a median grade of 80 on virtually all issues on which he is performance-rated. But an exception is the lower median grade of 75 recorded by Aquino on the issue of poverty reduction. At the time the survey was conducted, the developments that dominated the news headlines included:

1. The second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino III 2. Congressional investigation into the purchase of used helicopters by the Philippine National Police (PNP) back in 2009 and the alleged involvement of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the anomalous transaction 3. Medical condition of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her husband 4. Claims made by several witnesses as regards fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections 5. Talks held by President Aquino with the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) 6. Resignation of former Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and the removal from office of Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez 7. Continuing discussions on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill 8. Increase in dengue cases in Metro Manila and other parts of the country 9. Death and destruction caused by tropical cyclone "Mina" 10. Evacuation of Filipinos in Syria and Libya 11. President Aquino’s visit to China 12. The appreciation of the local currency vis-à-vis the American dollar, the increase in power rates and the rollback in pump prices.

The survey was based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a ± 3% error margin at the 95% confidence level. Sub-national estimates for each of the geographic areas covered in the survey (i.e., Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao) have a ± 6% error margin, also at 95% confidence level. Palace welcomes survey result Malacañang welcomed the Pulse Asia Ulat ng Bayan survey saying it is an affirmation of the people’s faith in the Aquino administration. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Thursday said it is expected that survey numbers will fluctuate as President Benigno Aquino III stays longer in office. “The people’s faith in their leadership has not wavered, and has in fact become stronger," Lacierda said. “The message is getting across to the vast majority of Filipinos: President Aquino’s ratings are proof that his efforts toward curbing corruption and reducing poverty are truly being felt by Filipinos across all geographic and demographic strata," he added. Lacierda vowed that the Aquino administration will “continue to raise the bar higher for ourselves so that every aspect of the President’s Social Contract with the Filipino People will be fulfilled." — with a report by Amita O. Legaspi/LBG, GMA News