Duterte’s trust, approval ratings climb in Q4

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte’s trust and approval ratings rose in December 2021, according to according to the fourth quarter survey results released by a political consultancy firm.

In PUBLiCUS Asia’s Pahayag Quarter 4 survey conducted from Dec. 6 to 10, Duterte had an approval rating of 65 percent, up by 5 percentage points from its 60 percent approval rating in the third quarter.

His trust rating also rose to 55 percent, 2 percentage points higher than his 53 percent trust rating in the last quarter.

Duterte was tagged by at least 50 percent of respondents in all but one of the traits namely “religiosity.”

He notched the highest share for “bravery” with 80 percent, “love for the Philippines” with 72 percent, “decisiveness” with 72 percent, and “concern for Filipinos” with 71 percent.

On the other hand, the approval rating of Vice President Leni Robredo dipped by 1 percentage point to 30 percent from 31 percent in the third quarter. However, her trust rating rose from 23 percent from 22 percent.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s approval rating rose 2 percentage points to 36 percent from 34 percent in the third quarter.

Sotto’s trust rating also jumped by 1 percentage point to 21 percent from 20 percent in the last quarter.

The approval ratings of House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo remained at 24 percent.

Velasco’s trust rating rose to 13 percent from 12 percent in the last quarter while Gesmundo’s trust rating dipped by 1 percentage point to 14 percent from 15 percent.

As for institutions, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had the highest total approval with 70 percent and the highest total trust with 53 percent.

The AFP is followed by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) with a 68 percent approval rating and a 46 percent trust rating and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) with a 65 percent approval rating and 46 percent trust rating.

Election preferences

Meanwhile, the survey also showed that Duterte was the second preferred senatorial aspirant in the 2022 national elections with 56 percent.

Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero kept his post as the top preferred senatorial aspirant with 57 percent.

Also in the top five spots were Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano with 45 percent, television personality Raffy Tulfo with 42 percent, and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian with 42 percent.

Deputy Speaker and Antique Representative Loren Legarda (38 percent), Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri (37 percent), former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar (35 percent), Senator Joel Villanueva (33 percent), and Senator Risa Hontiveros (33 percent) made the top 10.

Presidential daughter and Davao City Vice Mayor Sara Duterte was the preferred choice for vice president in the 2022 polls with 55 percent.

Sara is followed by Dr. Willie Ong (11 percent) and Sotto (11 percent).

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. topped the survey as respondents’ preferred choice for president with 52 percent followed by Robredo with 20 percent.

Eight percent of the respondents were undecided on who to elect in the country’s highest elected post.

The PUBLiCUS Asia’s Pahayag Quarter 4 survey is a nationwide purposive sampling survey comprised of 1,500 respondents that were randomly drawn from a market research panel by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based firm.

The sampling was guided by statistics generated from official data from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).