MANILA — Public opinion research firm WR Numero Research’s latest survey results showed 54.6 percent of Filipino voters prefer the next administration to “partially continue” rather than “change or fully continue” policies of the Duterte administration.
“This survey reflects one of the main criteria for how the voters will decide in the May 9 election,” WRN reports, with only 29.6 percent of survey respondents preferring a full continuity of Duterte policies while only 15.8 percent wanted changes.
The firm said the result was “driven by President Duterte’s high approval rating,” with the Chief Executive enjoying a high satisfaction rating as almost 68 percent of Filipino respondents rated his administration as either very good or good.
At least 34.1 percent responded with “very good” when asked how Duterte managed the country in the last five years while 33.9 percent answered ‘good”.
“Only 29.6 percent of survey respondents said they prefer full continuity of Duterte-era policies, while only 15.8 percent wanted changes,” the survey noted.
Moreover, around 20 percent of respondents found the administration’s performance as deficient, with 10.6 percent and 9.48 percent of the respondents answering “Hindi naging mahusay” and “Labis na hindi naging mahusay,” respectively.
The survey also showed that the remaining 12.53 percent of Filipino voters were undecided.
Keep Duterte’s drug war, infrastructure approach
In a report by The Philippine Star, the WR Numero Research survey showed voters’ intention for the next administration to retain Duterte’s war on drugs and the approach to infrastructure development while some want changes in the handling of the West Philippine Sea issue and ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal.
It found that the majority or 66.06 percent of respondents want the next administration to continue the Duterte administration’s “Build, build, build infrastructure program” while 64.60 percent are in favor of keeping the country’s 112 state universities tuition-free.
At least 60.83 percent of respondents, meanwhile, wished for the continuation of the administration’s war on drugs despite human rights groups claiming it resulted in the deaths of at least 30,000 people with a deferred International Criminal Court (ICC) probe as the Philippine government stressed that the local judicial system works.
“Only 16.55 percent prefer the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) law, while 15.75 percent and 11.87 percent want the same approach to China over the WPS issue and the ABS-CBN franchise, respectively,” WRN said.
“WRN found that 45.13 percent of Filipino voters want the new administration to deviate from President Duterte’s soft China approach in asserting the country’s claims over WPS,” it added.
In 2016, the Hague Tribunal dismissed China’s claims over the disputed waters while the Duterte administration rebuffed the ruling in exchange for Chinese loans.
“A number of survey respondents also wished for changes in how the administration carries out its war on drugs (12.49 percent), infrastructure program (7.18 percent), and its policy on free tuition in state universities (4.93 percent),” the report noted.
Respondents also wished for changes to the Duterte administration’s denial of ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise renewal (44.27 percent) and the implementation of the TRAIN law (24.77%).
“In 2020, President Duterte’s government denied ABS-CBN’s 25-year franchise renewal, leading to the media giant’s shut down,” WRN said.
“It is also during his administration that the TRAIN law, which lowered personal income tax but imposed excise taxes on fuel and sweetened beverages among other goods, was enacted,” it added.
Methodology
WRN noted that its digital survey had 1,200 unique respondents, a 95 percent confidence interval from a panel that consists of respondents across all classes and a methodology meant “to avoid over-representation and under-representation across the four demographic profiles – socio-economic, geographic, sex and gender, and age.”
The firm also employed quota sampling and a proportional weighting method with data from the Philippine Statistics Authority and the Commission on Elections.
