Pulse Asia Survey: Senate President Sotto 84% approval rating in 1st major survey during the pandemic

October 05, 2020 07:54 PM

Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III received an 84 percent approval rating, similar to his score in December 2019.

Pulse Asia conducted a nationwide survey on the performance and trust ratings of the top Philippine government officials and the performance ratings of the three government institutions, namely: the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. The survey ran from September 14 to 20, 2020 on 1,200 adults, 18 years old and above. 

A majority of Filipinos were pleased with Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto's performance, with an approval rating of 84 percent, similar to last year's score. 10 percent are undecided (a 1 percent decrease from the previous year), while an additional 1 percent added to his disapproval rating, now totaled at 6 percent. 

Senate President Sotto's trust rating went up by 1 percent, now totaled at 79 percent. 16 percent (previously 17 percent) are still undecided, while his distrust count remained at 5 percent, the same as last year's. 

President Duterte's approval rating is now at 91 percent, an increase of 4 percent from last year's survey conducted in December 2019. Only 5 percent (similar to last year) disapproved of his performance, while 5 percent (from 8 percent) remained undecided. 

Similarly, the President's trust rating also went up, now at 91 percent, an increase of 8 percent from last year. 6 percent remained undecided, while 3 percent expressed their distrust for the President. 

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo's performance rating totaled 57 percent this year, which is a drop of 1 percent from her points in last year's survey.  21 percent (similar to last year) remained undecided on the VP's performance, while 22 (from 20 percent) percent disapproved.

Vice President Robredo's trust rating dropped from 53 percent to 50 percent. Likewise, more people compared to last year, remained undecided at 28 percent, while 22 percent stated their distrust. 

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano's approval rating dropped a fair amount, from 80 percent in December, to the current rating of 70. Likewise, his trust rating decreased from 76 to 67 percent.  

Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, the newly appointed chief magistrate last October 2019, garnered a 44 percent approval rate, and a 39 percent trust rating. 

This year, most Filipinos were satisfied with the work of the Senate, with their approval rating now at 71 percent—previously 66 percent. There was a minimal decrease in the score of the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court, with an approval rating of 65 percent (previously 66 percent) and 61 percent (previously 63), respectively.  

How are the surveys conducted? 

Pulse Asia conducts surveys using face-to-face interviews nationwide. 

In determining the approval rate of each official, they present the name of the government official currently holding office and ask their opinion on how they think the person is performing (within the last three months) using a rating board (as presented above) with the choices: approval, undecided, and disapproval. They also ask the surveyors if they have heard, read, or watched anything the person has done during their time as a government official. 

To identify their trust rate, Pulse Asia simply asks the respondents how much they trust the public official using the ratings on the board (as presented above), from big trust, undecided, to small/no trust. 

In order to calculate the performance rating of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court, the researcher asks the participant about their opinion on each government agency based on how they think the office is performing their duty in the last three months. The participants are asked to rate the three offices using the same rating board used for the government officials, and are also questioned if they have heard, read, or watched anything the agency has done.