MANILA – Almost 8 in 10 Filipinos are satisfied with the government’s antinarcotics crackdown, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Sunday.
Of 1,200 adults polled in late June, 78 percent said they were satisfied with the campaign, 13 percent said otherwise and 19 were undecided, the SWS said in a statement.
The percentage of those dissatisfied subtracted from those satisfied yields a net satisfaction rating of a “very good” +65. This is 1 point above the very good +64 (75 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied) in March 2018, the pollster noted.
Satisfaction with the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs was at an excellent +76 when it was first surveyed in September 2016. It was highest in December 2017 at an excellent +77, said SWS.
However, it has been at the +63 to +66 (very good) range since March 2017, reaching its lowest rating of +63 in September 2017, the polling firm added.
ACROSS REGIONS
Net satisfaction was lowest in the Visayas, falling by 12 points TP +57 from the very good +69 in March 2018, SWS said.
It was highest in Mindanao, climbing 3 points to +84 from the previous excellent +81. The region’s net satisfaction rating has been excellent in 7 out of 8 survey rounds since September 2016, and very good in one.
The net rating also increased by 2 points in Metro Manila (+67 from +65) and by 5 points in Balance Luzon (+58 from +53), SWS said.
The government’s antinarcotics campaign has seen some 4,200 drug suspects killed and around 142,000 others arrested since 2016, according to police data released last April.
The campaign has drawn widespread criticism for alleged state-sponsored killings, which the government has denied.
The SWS non-commissioned survey on drug war satisfaction was conducted from June 27 to 30. It has a ±3 percent margin of error.
In the SWS scale, a score of at least 10 qualifies as “moderate” agreement while ratings 30 above are “strong” and marks 50 above are “very strong.” (ABS-CBN News)
