The United States (U.S.) still holds the title of being the most trusted country by Filipinos in the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS) released on Tuesday, April 16.
The survey, done from March 28 to 31 of this year, revealed that Pinoys still have the biggest trust in the U.S., giving it a net trust rating of “very good” +60 (70% much trust, 10% little trust), while Japan and Australia only got a “good” at +34 (54% much trust, 20% little trust) and +33 (51% much trust, 18% little trust) score, respectively. China, meanwhile, was the least trusted with only a “neutral” -6 (32% much trust, 39% little trust, correctly rounded) net trust rating.
The pollster noted that the U.S.’s latest net trust rating score is similar to its “very good” +60 (71% much trust, 11% little trust) in December 2018. Japan’s March 2019 net trust rating is also the same as its December 2018’s “good” +34 (53% much trust, 19% little trust).
[READ: SWS reveals: Filipinos trust U.S. most, China least]
The trust rating score of Australia, meanwhile, stayed “good” in the first quarter of 2019 but went up by two points from +31 (49% much trust, 19% little trust, correctly rounded) last December. Filipino’s trust also remained “neutral” for China, however, it increased by one point from the -7 (31% much trust, 39% little trust, correctly rounded) recorded in December 2018.
The SWS said compared to when it was last surveyed, the March 2019 net trust ratings “stayed within the same grade” for all of the four countries tested for public trust.
Net trust in the U.S., it reported, has been positive since the pollster first surveyed it in December 1994, ranging from a “moderate” +18 in May 2005 to as high as “excellent” +82 in December 2013.
“It has been at +60 and above in six out of seven surveys since June 2017,” it added.
The SWS also said it found “neutral” net ratings in Japan from December 1994 to December 1996, ranging from -2 to +9. In June 1997, the net trust in Japan rose to a “moderate” +17 and has since then been at “moderate” to “good” levels, achieving as high as “very good” +54 in December 2017.
When the net trust in Australia was first surveyed in April 1995, the pollster noted that it got a rating of “moderate” +11. It was in September 2008 when it rose to “good” +31 and has since then been at +30 and above, except for September 2009’s “moderate” +19.
China’s net trust, on the other hand, has been positive only in nine out of 49 surveys conducted by the SWS since August 1994. The pollster said it went up as high as “moderate” +17 in June 2010 and went down to as low as a “bad” -46 in September 2015.
The SWS used face-to-face interviews of 1,440 respondents nationwide — 360 each from Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao — in its First Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey. It has sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.6 percent for national percentages and plus or minus five percent for regional percentages.