Steady Rody despite dark buzz

Mr. Duterte’s solid base remains the poorest Class E masses which still gave him the highest approval of 84 percent, slightly down from the 87 percent the same class gave him on 19 June.

The seven percent dip in President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval rating released on Monday by survey firm Pulse Asia does not affect the people’s support of Mr. Duterte’s leadership, Malacañang affirmed yesterday.

“It’s still high,” offered presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo in reaction to Pulse Asia’s survey conducted from 16-22 September at the height of the Senate probe on the Bureau of Corrections’ (BuCor) anomalous handling of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) Law, which led to a deeper investigation that revealed the presence of “ninja cops” within the Philippine National Police.

“It’s more than 70 percent,” Panelo explained. “Surveys fluctuate depending on when they get them. If (they were) taken when there were controversies hounding (the President), (they) may affect the survey results.”

“The fact remains that 78-plus percent remains still high,” he added.

President Duterte’s trust rating was pegged at 74 percent, down by 11 points from the last survey.

The President’s last approval rating taken in June 2019 was pegged at 85 percent, a new high that was credited to his anti-crime crusade and populist appeal across class lines.

Mr. Duterte’s solid base remains the poorest Class E masses, which still gave him the highest approval of 84 percent, slightly down from the 87 percent the same class gave him on 19 June.

Classes A, B and C — the richest and the middle classes in the economic strata — gave the Chief Executive 75 percent, seven percent lower than what he received from those surveyed last.

Mindanao — from where the President considers himself a native despite being born in Maasin, Leyte and raised in Cebu, both parts of the Visayas — gave him a high 92 percent approval, which was a one percent rise from June.

Luzon marked Mr. Duterte with a low 69, but his numbers were pulled up by those from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 80 percent and the Visayas with 84 percent.

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted via face-to-face interview with a sample of 1,200 adult respondents 18 years and older. It has a ±2.8 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

It was not just Mr. Duterte who experienced a dip while the country was also watching developments on the polio outbreak, the PMA hazing case that resulted in the death of Cadet Darwin Dormitorio and the African swine flu — but Vice President Leni Robredo as well.

Robredo dropped from 55 percent approval rating in June to just 50 percent in September, with respondents from the NCR skidding her most with a mere 34 percent approval.

Her trust rating also fell to 46 percent from 72 percent in June.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who figured in the Senate probe of the GCTA mess, also slid from 77 percent in June to 72 percent in September in performance (approval) rating.

His trust rating had a marked 73 to 66 percent slide.

Newly-elected House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was given a 64 percent approval and 66 percent trust rating.

The only gainer, however small, was Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin who had 42 percent from 41 percent previously. His 35 percent trust rating in June is down one percent at 34 percent at present.