EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – FINDINGS OF NCR COVID-19 ONLINE PANEL SURVEY (Second Run) Fieldwork: April 13-18, 2020
INTRODUCTION
NCR COVID-19 ONLINE PANEL SURVEY is an independent non-commissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. and VOX Opinion Research in partnership with Lightspeed Research/Kantar (Singapore). The sample consists of an online panel of 1,000 Filipino respondents aged 18-70 and residing in Metro Manila. The panel was provided by Lightspeed from its pool of 100,000 Philippine panelists. Fieldwork was conducted online from April 13-18, 2020. More information on the survey’s purposive sampling method and panel selection process can be found here.
Respondents were asked to answer a short structured online questionnaire. Questions and answer options were provided in English with corresponding Filipino translations. The survey questions were designed to gauge the opinions and perceptions of respondents on the following key variables: Living Standards and Needs during the ECQ; National Government Performance; Local Government Performance; Existing/Proposed COVID-19 Policies. Responses from completed questionnaires were recorded in the system and transmitted in real-time to PUBLiCUS and VOX. The full dataset was processed and analyzed by VOX.
PANEL DEMOGRAPHICS
Age
79.4% of respondents are members of Generation Y (Millenials) or Generation Z, with 46% between the ages of 18-29 and 33.4% aged 30-39. 12.5% of the panelists are aged 40-59. 6.9% of the panelists are between the ages of 50-59, and the remaining 1.2% are between 60-69 years old.
City/Municipality of Residence
The number of respondents per city is proportionate to official population statistics. Quezon (223), Manila (138), and Caloocan (123) have relatively large samples, while Pateros (5), San Juan (10), and Navotas (19) have relatively small samples.
Household Size
Most respondents (54.6%) live in a typical household with three to five members. Almost one-third of the panel (30.1%) live in large households with six or more members. Only 9.3% live alone or with just one other person.
Household Income
More than one-third (34.3%) of respondents live in Poor or Low Income households earning P19,040 per month or less. One-quarter of the panel (25.8%) live in Lower Middle Income households earning between P19,041 to P38,080 per month. 20% live in Middle Class households earning between P38,081 and P66,640 per month. The remaining 15.7% live in Upper Middle Income, Upper Income, and Rich households earning more than P66,640 per month.
Gender
The panel has a significantly higher proportion of females (64.6% versus 35.4% male).
LIVING STANDARDS AND NEEDS
Family Condition
A plurality of respondents (41.8%) indicated that the status of their family is neither good nor bad under the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). 39.5% said the status of their family is GOOD or VERY GOOD. 18.7% of respondents said the status of their family under the ECQ is BAD or VERY BAD.
The results provide some indication that the overall condition of some families may be deteriorating over time under the ECQ. GOOD or VERY GOOD family condition has decreased by 8% compared to the April 2-6 run of the survey, while BAD or VERY BAD family condition has increased by 3.7%.
Respondents from the three lowest income groups recorded higher incidences of BAD or VERY BAD family conditions than the 18.7% average across all income groups. Roughly one-third (32.29%) of respondents from Poor households reported BAD or VERY BAD conditions for their families. 22.67% of respondents from Low Income households as well as 21.7% from Lower Middle Income households indicated BAD or VERY BAD family conditions.
Supply of Household Necessities
More than half of respondents (52.6%) said their households have enough food and water to last them for one week or less. 29.5% said they have enough food and water for a week or two. The remaining 17.9% said their food and water supplies would last them for more than two weeks.
These results indicate a marked improvement compared to the April 2-6 run of the survey, when 58.6% of respondents said their food and water supply was only good for one week or less.
The data suggest a strong correlation between monthly household income and sufficiency of food and water supply. Almost two-thirds or 64.58% of respondents from Poor households said their supply would last one week or less. The proportion of respondents indicating a household supply of food and water good for one week or less decreases as monthly household income increases all the way up to the Rich household demographic, where only one-third (33.3%) of respondents said their food and water is only good for a week or less.
Half of respondents (50.5%) said their households have enough money for one week or less. 28.1% said they have enough money for a week or two. The remaining 21.4% said they have enough money for more than two weeks.
56% of respondents their household supply of medicine was only enough for one week or less. 27.4% said their supply was good for one to two weeks, while 16.6% said their supply would last for more than two weeks.
Loss of Employment Under ECQ
64% of respondents reported that at least one member of their respective households who was employed before the ECQ has lost his or her job due to the ECQ.
The data suggest a strong negative correlation between income and the likelihood or incidence of job loss. 78.12% of respondents from Poor households reported that at least one member of their households had lost their job due to the ECQ. The proportion of respondents who reported job loss in their household decreases as household income increases, with only one-third or 33% of respondents from Rich households indicating that someone in their household is now unemployed due to the ECQ.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT PERCEPTIONS
Confidence in National Government’s Ability to Contain COVID-19
A plurality of respondents (43.5%) 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. 33.4% of respondents answered that there was a HIGH or VERY HIGH chance that the national government would succeed in containing the pandemic. 23.1% had LOW or VERY LOW confidence in the government’s ability to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
These results indicate a modest decrease of confidence in the national government’s ability to contain COVID-19. The proportion of HIGH or VERY HIGH responses decreased by 6.6%, while LOW or VERY LOW responses increased by 4.4%
Approval of the Response of President Duterte and the National Government to COVID-19
More than two-thirds of respondents (69.7%) approve of the manner in which President Rodrigo Duterte and the National Government are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. 15.3% either disapprove or strongly disapprove, while 15% neither approve nor disapprove.
These results indicate a 3-point increase in approval of the Duterte/National Government’s COVID-19 response compared to the April 2-6 run of the survey.
Approval of the Duterte/National Government response to COVID-19 was higher than the 69.7% average among respondents from households classified as Low Income (73.69%) and Lower Middle Income (69.76). Disapproval was higher than the 15.3% average among respondents from households classified as Upper Income (26.32%), Upper Middle Income (22.43%), Rich (16.67%), Middle Income (16.5%), and Lower Middle Income (16.28%).
Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID)
A definite majority or 59.7% approve of the IATF-EID’s response to COVID-19. 26.6% neither approve nor disapprove. 13.7% approve or strongly disapprove.
Department of Health
A slim majority of respondents (51.3%) approve of the Department of Health’s response to COVID-19. 27.6% neither approve nor disapprove while 21.1% disapprove. These results indicate a slight 1.7% decrease in approval from the April 2-6 run.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
The sentiments of respondents were divided on the DSWD’s implementation of the Social Amelioration Program. The largest proportion of respondents (36.7%) disapprove. Another 33.2% of respondents approve, while 30.1% neither approve nor disapprove.
Preferred Form of Assistance from National Government
Money is the preferred form of COVID-19 assistance that respondents wish to receive from the National Government. 94.7% said they want to receive money from the National Government, followed by 92.7% wanting food and water, 92.2% desiring medicine, and 91.3% wanting to receive free testing kits.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERCEPTIONS
Mayor/LGU Approval
The largest proportion of respondents (43.7%) approve of the responses of their respective mayors and city governments to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost one-third (33.2%) disapprove of the performance of their mayor and city government, while 23.1% neither approve nor disapprove. The data indicate a negligible 0.5% increase in approval and a slight 1.3% decrease in disapproval compared to the first run of the survey.
Mayor/LGU approval was highest among respondents residing in Pasig (84.74%), Valenzuela (81.25%), Marikina (80%), and Manila (73.19%).
Assistance Already Received/Prefer to Receive
84% of respondents have already received food/relief packs from their respective LGUs. 20.8% have received financial assistance from their respective LGUs.
Food and water (94.3%) is the form of assistance that respondents most want to receive from LGUs, followed by money (93.5%), medicine (92.4%), and free testing kits (89.9%).
PERCEPTIONS ON COVID-19 POLICIES
Enhanced Community Quarantine
An overwhelming 84.2% of respondents approve of the Luzon-wide Extended Community Quarantine, an increase of 2.2% from the April 2-6 survey. 9.7% neither approve nor disapprove, and 6.1% disapprove.
Preferred End Date of ECQ
77.8% of respondents want the ECQ to end within the next two to six weeks. The largest proportion (32%) want the ECQ to end sometime between May 1 and May 30. 31.2% want it to end on April 30, the date when the Extended ECQ is set to expire. 14.6% want the ECQ to end on May 31, while the remaining 22.2% want it to end sometime after May 31.
Mass Testing vs. Targeted Testing
A sizable majority of respondents (68.3%) want the government to conduct a Mass Testing program which includes people without COVID-19 symptoms. 30.5% would prefer the government conduct Targeted Testing of people with COVID-19 symptoms. 1.2% do not want the government to conduct wider testing.
Other COVID-19 Policies
The survey listed an additional ten existing or proposed policies concerning COVID-19. Respondents overwhelmingly approved of nine of them: Providing frontline medical services people with additional pay (96.5%); Increasing the number of families qualified to receive financial assistance under the DSWD Social Amelioration Program (94.4%); Providing financial support to small business owners (92%); Immediate roll-out of National ID System to facilitate faster delivery of financial assistance and other aid to families affected by crises such as COVID-19 (86.8%); Distribution of relief packs to households under quarantine (85.6%); Providing government-controlled transportation services during the quarantine (85.4%); Providing financial assistance to middle-class families under quarantine (83.8%); Distribution of cash transfers to households under quarantine (77.8%); Allowing controlled return to work of some employees (68.6%). However, only 43.5% of respondents support 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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