GMA News analyst Richard Heydarian comments on President Duterte’s satisfaction and trust ratings

GMA News’ resident analyst Richard Heydarian said it’s about time for President Rodrigo Duterte to address the other important problems hounding the different sectors of this country.

Appearing on Unang Hirit’s Unang Balita segment on Tuesday, Heydarian told anchor Rhea Santos that the president shouldn’t just focus on his war on drugs if he wants to improve his approval number, which fell sharply to its lowest level since he took over Malacañang last year.

“Kung gusto i-bounce back ni Pangulong Duterte ‘yung kanyang approval rating, dapat makita niya talaga [kung] ano ang gusto ng ibat-ibang sectors. In fact ‘yung pinakamalaking nabagsak sa kanyang mga sub-groups ay Group E. ito ‘yung mga poorest of the poor Filipinos, bottom of the 30 percent. Pati sa Group D na 60 percent ng ating population bumaba rin siya,” Heydarian said, citing the results of a recent Social Weather Stations survey.

“So, si Pangulong Duterte hindi lang siya puwedeng mag-focus lang dito sa drug war, dapat bigyan din niya ng pansin ‘yung mga bread and butter issue na masyadong mahalaga sa karamihan ng Pilipino,” he added.

For the political pundit, the recent decline in Mr. Duterte’s ratings is the first statistically relevant shift in his popularity since becoming president.

“Kapag nakita mo ‘yung kaso ni Pangulong Duterte, he started with one of the lowest trust ratings bago siya naging president and then nag-surge po ito sa 91 percent noong naging presidente siya noong last year. Pero over time, parati ang movement sa kanyang support base ay mga few percentage points,” he said.

He further explained: “Bakit siya statically relevant? Dahil may margin of error po ‘yung overall survey ng 3-5 percent. And then pag makita mo ‘yung mga sub-group, sub-demographics, mas malaki pa po ‘yung mga margin or error, around 6 percent. So plus or minus dapat lampas sa 12 percent or 12 points para magkaroon ng statically relevant shift. Dito makita natin 18 points ang naging change dun sa kanyang support base especially satisfaction rating. So eto ‘yung para sa akin, first time na mahalaga ‘yung shift sa kanyang approval rating since June of last year.”

Heydarian said that while his numbers dropped significantly, it’s still “premature” to tell if this would lead to his downfall, noting that former President Noynoy Aquino’s own ratings went down after the PDAF scam and the Mamasapano incident.

“I think medyo maaga or premature para sabihin nung iba na pabagsak na si Pangulong Duterte. In fact, relatively high pa rin ang kayang approval rating, lampas sa 40 percent,” he said. “Pero historically po, mas mababa ‘yung kanyang approval rating dito sa stage ng presidency niya kumpara kay Pangulong Ramos at Pangulong Aquino.”

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