MANILA — Satisfaction in Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte fell to the lowest of his presidency since coming into office in 2016, an independent survey showed on Tuesday.
Net satisfaction, used by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) as a rating of the president’s performance, was down 11 points from the first quarter to 45 in the survey of 1,200 Filipinos conducted in the last week of June.
It was the president’s lowest rating in eight surveys taken since 2016. In the first quarter of this year, Duterte’s rating slipped to 56 percent from 58 percent in December 2017.
The president was unfazed by the drop in his ratings.
“I don’t care, it does not interest me at all,” Duterte told a news conference north of Manila.
The survey was taken during the week when Duterte attacked the Catholic Church and called God “stupid” after bishops and priests criticised the killing of drug suspects in the government’s anti-narcotics campaign.
“It was an unnecessary remark, it really affected his ratings,” said analyst Earl Parreno of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms.
“The rising prices and unemployment also had an impact, but this is only temporary. He has to repair his relations with the bishops and rebuild his image,” Parreno said.
Duterte met with the head of the Catholic Bishops group on Monday, promising to refrain from attacking the Church.
The SWS survey did not ask respondents to explain their rating for Duterte, who took office in June 2016. Duterte had enjoyed high satisfaction ratings since coming to office, peaking at 66 in June 2017.
Based on the SWS methodology for satisfaction ratings, a score of 70 and above is considered excellent, 50 to 69 is very good, 30-49 good and 10-29 moderate. —Reporting By Manuel Mogato Editing by Darren Schuettler
