President Rodrigo Duterte will finish his term as the “most popular president of the post-EDSA I era,” after 75 percent of Filipinos expressed approval of his performance in the past six years, the latest PUBLiCUS survey results showed.
In the nationwide survey conducted from June 16 to 22 with 1,500 respondents, only 10 percent said they disapprove or strongly disapprove of the President’s performance since 2016.
During the same survey period, 69 percent of respondents rated their trust in President Duterte as “high” or “very high.”
Only 11 percent said they put little or no trust in the President.
“Our numbers indicate that President Rodrigo Duterte will leave office as the most popular president of the post-EDSA I era. No other president who served under the 1987 Constitution has ended his or her term with majority approval and trust ratings, much less a supermajority of public support,” PUBLiCUS Executive Director Aureli Sinsuat said in a statement.
‘Positive’ impact
Seventy-five of the respondents also rated the overall impact of the Duterte administration on national development as “slightly or very positive”—identical to the outgoing president’s total approval rating.
PUBLiCUS said the second-highest positive impact rating among post-EDSA I administrations was notched by Duterte’s predecessor, the late President Benigno Aquino III.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents said the Aquino administration had a positive impact on the development of the Philippines.
“The Ramos, Macapagal-Arroyo, Corazon Aquino, and Estrada administrations recorded positive impact ratings of 24%, 22%, 20%, and 14%, respectively,” the pollster pointed out.
“The data suggest that public sentiment on the policy achievements of the Duterte administration is exceptionally positive, especially in comparison to previous administrations,” Sinsuat said.
“Based on our numbers, we can expect President Duterte to retain an unprecedented amount of political capital for a former president when he leaves Malacañang on June 30. When private citizen Duterte speaks up on the issues, many will listen. When he endorses a candidate, many will vote for them,” he added.