SWS: 4 of 5 Filipinos satisfied with conduct, outcome of May midterm polls

MANILA, Philippines — An overwhelming majority of Filipinos expressed satisfaction with the conduct and results of the May midterm elections, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations.

This, despite controversies that marred the 2019 polls such as defective vote counting machines and SD cards, and the hours-long delay in updates from Commission on Election’s transparency survey.

Results of the June 22 to 26 survey showed that 80% of the 1,200 respondents expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the midterm elections. Of the proportion, 38% said they were strongly satisfied while 43% said they were somewhat satisfied.

Only 12% expressed dissatisfaction with the manner the elections was done, while the remaining 7% said they were undecided.

This translated to a net satisfaction rating of “very good” +68—five points below the record high “excellent” +73 obtained after the conduct of the 2016 national elections.

The polling firm noted the net satisfaction with the elections has been ranging from “very good” to “excellent” since 2010.

The net satisfaction with the conduct of the May polls was highest in Mindanao at “excellent” +77. It was followed by Visayas at “excellent” +71, Balance Luzon at “very good” +66 and Metro Manila at “very good” +54.

The SWS survey also found that 79% agreed with the statement “The Commission on Elections performed its job independently without favoring any candidate or group.”

Only 10% disagreed with the statement, while 11% percent said they were undecided.

This yielded a net agreement score of “extremely strong +70—nine points higher than the “extremely strong” +61 in June 2013.

4 of 5 Filipinos say results of Senate race ‘believable’

According to the same SWS survey, 86% of the respondents found the election results for senators—which saw allies of President Rodrigo Duterte dominating the upper chamber—believable.

Of the proportion, 45% said the results were very believable and 41% said the outcome was somewhat believable.

Only 14% said the results were unbelievable—9% somewhat unbelievable and 5% strongly unbelievable.

No one from the opposition became a senator of the country.

Eighty-eight percent of the respondents also said the election results for House of Representatives members were credible, while 8% said the outcome was not believable.

Allies of Duterte also dominated the lower chamber with his running mate Alan Peter Cayetano installed as the House speaker. The president’s son, Paolo Duterte, was elected as one of the deputy speakers.

Eighty-four percent said the results of gubernatorial race were “believable” with only 8% saying they were not believable, while 89% found the mayoral results credible. Only 11 said the outcome was not believable.

The survey has sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.