Aquino’s approval rating declines

by Ellalyn De Vera

President Benigno S. Aquino III’s approval and trust ratings declined amid efforts to rehabilitate areas affected by typhoon Yolanda, the latest Pulse Asia survey results showed.

Based on the national survey conducted last December 8-15, 73 percent of Filipinos expressed a positive opinion of President Aquino’s job performance in the past three months. The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents.

Ten percent expressed a negative opinion of the President’s performance, while 17 percent neither approved nor disapproved of his job three months ago.

Pulse Asia said President Aquino’s latest approval rating is lower by six percentage points from the 79 percent last September 2013.

President Aquino’s trust rating also slightly dropped to 74 percent in December from 76 percent. Only 9 percent said they have trust in him, while 17 percent were undecided on the matter.

At the time of the survey, some significant issues that pre-occupied Filipinos were the rising death toll due to typhoon ‘Yolanda,’ the ongoing rehabilitation efforts in Leyte and other areas hit by the typhoon, the designation of former Senator Panfilo Lacson as the rehabilitation czar responsible for overseeing the reconstruction of the areas devastated by the typhoon, and the word war between Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez due to the perceived failure of the national government to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of those affected by the typhoon.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay has received slightly higher performance and trust ratings with 80 and 77 percent, respectively (from 77 and 74 percent, respectively).

Senate President Franklin Drilon also registered lower performance and trust ratings with 43 and 40 percent, respectively from last September’s 50 and 46 percent, respectively.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno gained slightly higher performance and trust ratings last December with 43 percent and 44 percent, and 38 percent and 41 percent, respectively.

Across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, President Aquino enjoyed high approval ratings (68 to 82 percent, and 71 to 79 percent, respectively) and trust scores (69 to 81 percent and 67 to 80 percent, respectively).

The same may be said of Binay’s approval ratings (75 to 82 percent and 69 to 88 percent, respectively) and trust ratings (74 to 80 percent and 64 to 83 percent, respectively) in these sub-groupings.


With a few exceptions, Pulse Asia pointed out that public assessment of the top five government officials’ performance and trustworthiness remained “generally unchanged” between September and December 2013.

http://www.mb.com.ph/aquinos-approval-rating-declines/