
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PAHAYAG Third Quarter Survey: September 16-20, 2022
OVERVIEW
PAHAYAG 2022 THIRD QUARTER is an independent and non-commissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc between September 16 to 20, 2022.
It is a nationwide purposive sampling survey comprised of 1,500 respondents randomly drawn from the market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with multinational presence. The sample was restricted to registered Filipino voters.
The margins of error are ~3% at the national level, ~7% in NCR, and ~6% in the other four major island groupings.
Note from PureSpectrum: “Samples provided by PureSpectrum are not affiliated with any bias or political party. All opinions voiced in the interpretation and analyses of the data are those of the writer and/or project sponsor.”
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
- Close to a third fall within ages 18-39 (except NCR, SL) and about 7-8 in 10 are Roman Catholics, graduated in College and Working.
- 54% of Monthly household (HH) income fall within Php20K-70K. Half are Pro-Marcos administration (skewed in MIN, least in SL) while a fifth are for the Opposition.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY AND ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
- Half of Filipinos believe our country’s current state is strong, however, significantly few more have changed their minds thinking it is now weak vs. previous quarter. Still, outlook is positive, i.e. we are heading to the right direction, as well as economic and financial situations will improve.
- SL drives weak perception of current situation while MIN relatively has the best opinion of the state of the country (possibly still a Duterte effect).
- Majority of INC share similar sentiments as bulk of MIN registered voters while the Non-working tend to view PH less positively than the Working group.
NATIONAL ISSUES
Q: Using the rating scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is STRONGLY DISAPPROVE, 3 is NEITHER APPROVE NOR DISAPPROVE, and 5 is STRONGLY APPROVE, how would you describe your position following issues?
- About 9 in 10 Filipinos approve the use of renewable energy. Equally popular is the general sentiment of being fed up with text spammers/scammers to the level of wanting to penalize them.
- Next is seemingly for patriotism, i.e. reinstate ROTC (skewed to MIN, less in SL), use Filipino in government docs, and possibly a move towards a chance for healing – allowing the Marcoses to defend their case on the ill-gotten wealth issue (skewed to the oldest age group, less among 18-29s).
- Bottom half issues are a combination of topics on civil unions, divorce, COVID-19 protocols on face masks and vaccine boosters, constitution amendments.
MACRO AND MICRO ISSUES
Q: Select the most important issues that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should focus on.
- Uplifting the country’s economy is the most pressing of all issues that Filipino voters want the new president to focus on, to which the remaining top 5 are closely interrelated.
- Similarly for the Non-working, Education is one of the top important concerns, while for INC members, Peace and Order is more pressing along with providing Jobs, next to the Economy.
Q: Select the biggest concerns of your household heading into the fourth quarter (October, November, and December) of 2022?
- Not having the money to pay for basic needs is still the top key concern for Filipinos as they head into the last quarter of 2022. Even succeeding issues related to jobs and sickness all boil down to the fear of not being able to afford one’s living necessities.
- Generally similar topmost important concerns across Religion, Work Status and Educational Attainment, but with the additional worry of inability to buy medicines for treatable diseases among Muslims.
SCORECARD OF NATIONAL LEADERS AND INSTITUTIONS
Approval Ratings: Top Five Government Officials
Q: Using the rating scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is STRONGLY DISAPPROVE, 3 is NEITHER APPROVE NOR DISAPPROVE, and 5 is STRONGLY APPROVE, how would you rate the overall performance of the following THROUGHOUT THE MARCOS ADMINISTRATION (JUNE 2022 to SEPTEMBER 2022)?
- VP Sara gets the highest approval rating among top national government officials, seconded by Pres. BBM. MIN consistently gives the highest ratings for all, while SL also shows consistency but towards the opposite (negative) direction.
Approval Ratings: Government Agencies
Q: Using the rating scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is STRONGLY DISAPPROVE, 3 is NEITHER APPROVE NOR DISAPPROVE, and 5 is STRONGLY APPROVE, how would you rate the overall performance of the following THROUGHOUT THE MARCOS ADMINISTRATION (JUNE 2022 to SEPTEMBER 2022)?
- AFP is stable and continues to get one of highest approval, parity with TESDA at the top spot despite the latter’s big drop.
- Biggest gainers are DepEd and BSP, each with a 10-pt increase in approval from Q2. Other gainers are the Supreme Court (+5), DOH (+7), DA (+4), DOJ (+5) and DHSUD (+5).
- COMELEC (-12) and DPWH (-10), on the one hand, suffer decline together with TESDA (-4).
Trust Ratings: Top 5 Government Officials
Q: Using the rating scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is NO TRUST, 3 is MODERATE TRUST, and 5 is VERY HIGH TRUST, how would you rate the overall trustworthiness of the following THROUGHOUT THE MARCOS ADMINISTRATION (JUNE 2022 to SEPTEMBER 2022)?
- Trust ratings for all top officials follow same pattern as their Approval across areas, where MIN is highest while SL takes the lower end. VP Sara still leads over Pres. BBM, the former consistently having higher ratings in each area than the latter.
Trust Ratings: Top 5 Government Agencies
Q: Using the rating scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is NO TRUST, 3 is MODERATE TRUST, and 5 is VERY HIGH TRUST, how would you rate the overall trustworthiness of the following THROUGHOUT THE MARCOS ADMINISTRATION (JUNE 2022 to SEPTEMBER 2022)?
- While there are several gains in approval rating, trust does not necessarily follow. More agencies suffer decline in trust this quarter vs. Q2, the biggest drop of which is still COMELEC (-18). AFP also weakens but remains the most trusted agency, along with TESDA.
EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT OF INCUMBENT LEADERS
- VP Sara is mostly associated as brave (67%) and prioritizing the poor (60%), while Pres. BBM (56%) is most perceived as someone “upholding the law” at parity with VP Sara (55%).
MEDIA CONSUMPTION HABITS
- Social Media overtakes TV as the daily news source for majority of Filipino voters, regardless of area.
TRUST RATINGS IN NEWS OUTLETS
- Facebook and YouTube are the top Social Media Platforms used by almost all Filipinos, and about a third spending more than 5 hours every day.
TRUST RATINGS IN NEWS OUTLETS
- CNN Philippines and GMA 7 sustain top two ranks as most trusted channel news sources by Filipino voters. The rest are mostly stable except for decline in TV5, SMNI, UNTV, Business World, Sunstar PH, Net 25, and Summit Express.