Poll: Duterte enjoys high approval rating at 82%

Most Filipinos remain appreciative of the performance of President Rodrigo Duterte after one year of his term, according to an independent poll released here on Monday.

A survey by Pulse Asia Inc. conducted from June 24 to June 29 showed that 82 per cent of the 1,200 people surveyed nationwide approved the way Duterte runs the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

Out of all the respondents, the poll said 13 per cent were undecided about Duterte's performance, while 5 per cent disapproved of Duterte's performance. Overall, the poll said Duterte scored the highest among the top government officials covered by the survey.

"Most Filipinos remain appreciative of the performance of (Duterte), Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel," the poll said, adding that Robredo got 61 per cent while Pimentel got 62 per cent.

In the National Capital Region, the survey said Duterte scored 80 per cent, or 7 per cent higher than a previous survey conducted in March.

In the main Luzon Island, the survey said Duterte scored 75 per cent, or 4 per cent higher than the March survey. Duterte got the highest in his bailiwick Mindanao, scoring 95 per cent, or 7 per cent higher than the score he got in March, the survey said.

However, the survey noted that Duterte's approval rating dropped 2 percent in the Visayas region in the central Philippines from 86 per cent in March to 84 per cent.

Duterte managed to get high approval rating despite the string of criticisms hurled at him by some western countries and human rights groups alarmed by the hardline drug war campaign and the declaration of martial law in the entire Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Government authorities said the ongoing war in Marawi City against militants allied with the Islamic State has so far claimed the lives of at least 593 people, including 411 terrorists, 97 security forces and 45 civilians.

Duterte, who assumed the presidency in June last year, will end his single, six-year term in 2022.

--IANS

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