Even as he nears the end of his term, President Rodrigo Duterte continues to enjoy a "very good" net satisfaction rating of +60 (percentage of satisfied minus percentage of dissatisfied), based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in December 2021.
SWS president and CEO Linda Luz Guerrero presented the initial results of the December 2021 national survey during the 2022 SWS Survey Review forum that was organized with the Asian Institute of Management and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation on Monday, Feb. 7.
"As of December 2021, we see that President Duterte continues to have very good net satisfaction rating," Guerrero said.
She explained that President Duterte continued to enjoy the "honeymoon phase" of his leadership, as his ratings remained above the +30 to +49 net ratings.
"When we report this, we say ratings below the yellow bar or the yellow bar, covering +30 to +49--below this we would consider the honeymoon to have ended. You can see that matagal na rin ang honeymoon ni PRRD . In fact, nasa honeymoon stage pa siya. (President Duterte has a long honeymoon stage. In fact, he is still on the honeymoon stage)," Guerrero pointed out.
Why Duterte maintains high satisfaction ratings
Citing the result of the study of SWS fellows, Jeff Ducanes, Steven Rood, and Jorge Tigno, Guerrero said there was "no single explanation for President Duterte's high satisfaction rating."
However, other factors have been considered--"one is his (Duterte's) strong base support, which has stuck with him so far, regardless of economic and other developments, and best exemplified by Mindanao residents."
"Another is satisfaction with the national administration's overall 'pamamalakad' (leadership system) and also on some specific policy issues, such as helping the poor and the drug war," she added.
"Those who feel the national administration is effective in helping the poor tend to be satisfied with him, as well as those who view the drug war as effective," she said.
Guerrero said the third factor is that people relate to or are attracted to some aspects of President Duterte's character, such as his perceived decisiveness and diligence. "Those who see these character traits in him tend to be satisfied with him," she said.
"Of the three types of factors, their perception of his character appears to be the most important factor explaining satisfaction and dissatisfaction with President Duterte," she pointed out.
As of December 2021, the national administration recorded a "very high" net satisfaction rating of +61.
It registered a "very good" net satisfaction rating on helping the poor (+54) and a "good" net satisfaction rating on its anti-illegal drugs campaign (+46). Meanwhile, the national administration received a "neutral" net rating on efforts to fight corruption and inflation (+9 and -5, respectively).
Although the majority admired President Duterte for his diligence, Guerrero noted that the majority of Filipinos also considered his drug war too bloody.
Net satisfaction ratings for Robredo, Velasco drop
Meanwhile, net satisfaction ratings for two of the other top officials have declined.
"When we ran this in September 2021, Vice President Leni Robredo was +24 in December 2021, she was +1. For Senate President Vicente Sotto III, from +46 in September 2021, it increased to +52 in December 2021. For House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, it was +8 in September 2021 to +5 in December 2021. For Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, we would call it "neutral," from +2 in September 2021 to +7 in December 2021," Guerrero said.
The survey was conducted from Dec. 12 to 16, 2021 with 1,440 respondents.
Guerrero said that a media release will be issued soon to further discuss the results of the latest SWS survey.