EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – FINDINGS OF NCR COVID-19 ONLINE PANEL SURVEY April 8, 2020
INTRODUCTION
NCR COVID-19 ONLINE PANEL SURVEY is an independent non-commissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. and VOX Opinion Research, its in-house strategic research arm. The sample consisted of 1,000 Filipino respondents aged 18-70 and residing in Metro Manila. The online panel was provided by Lightspeed Research through its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. The number of respondents per city is proportionate to the official population of the respective cities and municipality. Fieldwork was conducted online from April 2-6, 2020. The survey will be run weekly from this point on.
Respondents were asked to answer a short structured questionnaire which gauged their opinions and perceptions on the following key variables: Living Standards and Needs during the ECQ; National Government Perceptions; Local Government Perceptions; and Support for Anti-COVID-19 Policies.
PANEL DEMOGRAPHICS
The panel is relatively young with 78.3% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 39. 20% of the panel are aged 40-59. The remaining 1.7% are aged 60-70.
Most respondents (58%) live in a typical household with three to five members. Around a third of the panel (33.9%) live in large households with six or more members. Only 8.1% live alone or with just one other person.
More than one-fourth (29.5%) of respondents live in households earning P19,040 per month or less. Another quarter of the panel (27.6%) have a household income between P19,040 to P38,080 per month. 23.1% live in households earning between P38,080 and P66,640 per month. The remaining 16.3% percent have a monthly household income of more than P66,640.
The panel has a significantly higher proportion of females (62.3% versus 37.7% male).
LIVING STANDARDS AND NEEDS
Family Condition
A plurality of respondents (47.5%) indicated that the status of their families are GOOD or VERY GOOD during the ECQ. 37.5% said their families were doing neither well nor poorly. Only 15% of respondents said the status of their families under the ECQ was BAD or VERY BAD.
However, it should be noted that respondents from the three lowest income groups were the only ones among all income groups to report a higher average incidence of BAD or VERY BAD conditions compared to the 15% average across all income groups. Significantly, more than a quarter of respondents from the lowest income group (25.37%) reported BAD or VERY BAD conditions for their families – the highest incidence of negative responses among all income groups.
Most Essential Basic Household Necessities and Supply
A large majority of respondents (71.9%) indicated that food and water were the most essential to their households during the quarantine, followed by money (22.1%) and medicine (6%).
However, 29.3% of respondents reported that their household had less than one week’s worth of medicine remaining – the highest percentage compared to households with less than one week’s worth of money (26.5%) and food and water (25.1%) in stock.
The Relative Strength Index for the sufficiency of basic household necessities supplies indicates that respondents from the three lowest income groups (P38,080 and below) reported less sufficient supplies of food and water, money, and medicine compared to the average among all income groups.
PERCEPTIONS OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Confidence in National Government’s Ability to Contain COVID-19
A plurality of respondents (41.3%) think there is only a 50/50 chance that the national government will be able to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. 40% of respondents answered that there was a HIGH or VERY HIGH chance that the national government would succeed in containing the pandemic. Only 18.7% had LOW or VERY LOW confidence in the government’s ability to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Approval of the Response of President Duterte and the National Government to COVID-19
Two-thirds of respondents (66.6%) approve of the manner in which President Rodrigo Duterte and the National Government are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. 17% neither approve nor disapprove, and 16.4% either disapprove or strongly disapprove.
Overall, the response of the President and the National Government to COVID-19 has a net approval of +50.2. Only the second and third-lowest income groups registered a net approval rating higher than the average at +65.36 and +56.89, respectively.
Although the President and the National Government registered positive net approval among all income groups, this figure was lowest among the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. Respondents with monthly household income between P114,240 and P190,400 registered the lowest net approval among all income groups at +9.09, followed by the top income group earning more than P190,400 (+33.3 net approval) and the group earning less than P9,520 per month (+34.33).
Department of Health and Secretary Duque
A slim majority of respondents (53%) approve of the Department of Health’s response to COVID-19. 26% neither approve nor disapprove while 21% disapprove.
A plurality of respondents (39.3%) approve the response of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III to COVID-19. Almost one-third (31%) neither approve nor disapprove. More than one-fourth (29.7%) disapprove.
Senate and House of Representatives
As for the Senate, a plurality of respondents (38.3%) disapprove of their response to COVID-19. One-third (33%) neither approve nor disapprove of their response. Only 28.7% of respondents said they approve of the Senate’s actions against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, respondents were divided over their perception of the House of Representatives’ response to COVID-19. A plurality of respondents (37.3%) neither approve nor disapprove. Their 31.7% approval rating had a slight edge over disapproval at 31%.
PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Overall, a plurality of respondents (43.2%) approve of the responses of their respective mayors and city governments to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one-third (34.5%) disapprove. 22.3% neither approve nor disapprove of the performance of their mayor and city government.
The following mayors and city governments registered the highest approval ratings among their respective constituents who participated in the survey: Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela (83.34%), Vico Sotto of Pasig (83.05%), and Miguel Ponce III of Pateros (80%).
SUPPORT FOR ANTI-COVID19 POLICIES
An overwhelming majority of respondents (82%) approve of the Luzon-wide Extended Community Quarantine as originally implemented, and three-fourths (75.5%) supported the extension of the ECQ past its original April 13 end date.
The survey listed an additional eight existing or proposed policies concerning COVID-19. Respondents overwhelmingly approved of seven of them: Providing frontline medical services people with additional pay (97.6%); Mass testing to identify all persons with COVID-19 (94.7%); Providing financial support to small business owners (93.6%); Providing government-controlled transportation services during the quarantine (93.3%); Distribution of relief packs to households under quarantine (84.5%); Distribution of cash transfers to households under quarantine (83.7%); Allowing controlled return to work of some employees (68.4%).
However, a majority of respondents (55.4%) expressed disapproval to the proposal to provide financial support to big businesses.
Reference: Mr. Aureli C. Sinsuat, PUBLiCUS Executive Director
Email: acsinsuat@publicusltd.com
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