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By Rommel C. Lontayao,
Reporter
A new survey released by Pulse
Asia on Wednesday suggested that President Gloria Arroyo’s ratings
have not yet hit rock bottom.
Based on the results of Pulse
Asia’s October 2008 nationwide survey, public disapproval (46
percent) and distrust (51 percent) of the President is higher than
her public approval (27 percent) and public trust (24 percent)
ratings.
“Amidst unresolved political
and economic issues facing her administration, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo continues to struggle with rather low levels of
public approval and public trust,” Pulse Asia reported.
These negative sentiments
dominate in all geographic areas and socio-economic categories
within the country, the report added.
“Metro Manila respondents
appear to be most critical of the President [65 percent expressing
disapproval as well as distrust], while those from Luzon—excluding
Metro Manila—post significantly lower levels of disaffection [42
percent disapproval and 46 percent distrust],” Pulse Asia said.
The survey also showed that those
belonging to better-off classes—A, B and C families—trust and
appreciate Mrs. Arroyo’s performance the most. She scored a
comparatively high 34-percent approval and 31-percent trust rating
among respondents belonging to the middle and upper socioeconomic
brackets.
Pulse Asia said the only notable
movement in President Arroyo’s overall ratings is the 7-percentage
point increase in her disapproval rating from 39 percent in October
2007 to 46 percent in October 2008.
“Between July and October 2008,
the President’s national ratings are practically constant,
although overall approval and trust ratings show slightly better
than marginal improvements,” it said.
Mrs. Arroyo’s performance and
trust ratings generally improved in Mindanao, “where approval and
trust ratings, and conversely, disapproval and distrust ratings,
show double-digit changes between July and October 2008.”
Across socio-economic classes,
her trust and distrust ratings remained essentially unchanged.
The Pulse Asia “Ulat ng Bayan”
Survey was conducted from October 14 to 27 using face-to-face
interviews of 1,200 representative adults, 18 years old and older.
The survey’s margins of error are plus or minus 3 percent at the
national level and plus or minus 6 percent for each geographical
area.
Pulse Asia said that during the
course of the survey, the news that dominated headlines included the
filing of a new impeachment complaint against the President, the
Supreme Court decision on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral
Domain and the controversial trip to Russia of several police
officials.
Palace unfazed
Mrs. Arroyo is not bothered by
the new Pulse Asia survey, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said
also on Wednesday.
“Surveys are surveys,” he
added. “And we will just focus on undertaking programs and
projects to improve the lives of the people. We should not be pushed
back by those results otherwise we can’t achieve something. We
could be paralyzed in what we must do as a government in improving
the lives of the people.”
He said leaders are not meant to
be popular. They are meant to be leaders to undertake decisions that
will benefit the people.
--With Angelo S. Samonte
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