Robredo slips, other top officials steady — SWS
SATISFACTION with Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo continued to decline, this time by 11 points in the first quarter of the year, according to a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that also showed a slight drop amid still steady ratings for other top officials of government.
The survey — conducted on March 25 to 28 via face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide, and with a ±3% sampling error margin — found 53% of respondents satisfied with Ms. Robredo’s performance, 27% dissatisfied and 19% undecided.
This yielded a “moderate” net satisfaction rating (% satisfied minus % dissatisfied) that nevertheless of + 26, 11 points down from +37 (58% satisfied, 21% dissatisfied) in a survey by the SWS in December last year.
The SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of +70 and above as “excellent”; +50 to +69 as “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”; +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; and -70 and below as “execrable.”
One analyst noted that the latest drop in Ms. Robredo’s satisfaction rating could be attributed to the video message she sent to a United Nations side session in Vienna, Austria, last month in which she criticized the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
That video prompted House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez to look into the possibility of filing an impeachment complaint against the vice-president, saying this might be a ground for betrayal of public trust.
The survey also showed that satisfaction rating of Senate President Aquilino Martin L. Pimentel III slightly dropped in the first quarter by one grade to “moderate” from last December’s “good.”
Mr. Alvarez, himself a subject of recent controversies, was the only top official who posted a modest gain in his satisfaction rating in the January to March period. His net satisfaction rating stayed “moderate” at +12, two points higher than last December’s also “moderate” +10.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno’s satisfaction rating dropped 2 points in the first quarter, staying “moderate” at +14 from +16 last December.
Sought for comment, University of Santo Tomas political science professor Edmund S. Tayao said the satisfaction ratings of Messrs. Pimentel and Alvarez showed that “the President and his administration as a whole remain popular,” adding that “it is consistent with the ratings of the President.”
President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s satisfaction rating remained comparatively impressive at a “very good” +63, according to the SWS.
For Mr. Tayao, Ms. Robredo’s poll standing covers the period of her UN video. “So if that is the case, it can be one of the critical factor to explain the drop of her rating,” he said.
Mr. Tayao also noted the “popularity or unpopularity” of Ms. Robredo is “expected to be inversely proportional to that of the President because she is in the opposition.”