(MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO)

PHILIPPINES— Over 50 percent of Filipino voters prefer the new administration to “partially continue,” rather than change or fully continue, President Duterte’s policies, according to a survey conducted by public opinion research firm WR Numero Research (WRN).

The results of the survey conducted in 2021 and were released on Tuesday, March 22, showed that 54.59 percent of voters want soft continuity of the President’s policies.

The portion of Filipino voters who prefer full continuity stood at 29.57 percent, while those who want change only accounted for 15.84 percent.

According to WRN, the survey reflects one of the key criteria on how the voters will decide in the May 9, 2022 elections.

Filipinos’ support for the partial continuity of President Duterte’s policies was also clear with his high approval rating.

The research firm noted that President Duterte continued to enjoy high satisfaction rating with nearly 68 percent of Filipino voters assessing his administration in the last five years as “labis na mahusay” (very good) or “mahusay” (good).

Of the 68 percent, 34.07 percent responded, “labis na mahusay,” while 33.86 percent answered “mahusay.”

Meanwhile, 20 percent found the administration’s performance to be lacking, with 10.6 percent and 9.48 percent of the respondents answering “hindi naging mahusay” (poor) and “labis na hindi naging mahusay” (very poor), respectively.

The remaining 12.53 percent were undecided.

WRN said it used several levels of statistical intervention in its digital surveys to arrive at accurate results.

It conducted a digital survey of 1,200 unique respondents with a 95 percent confidence interval from a high-quality online panel that represents all classes.

It also employed a quota sampling and a proportional weighting method, using data from the Philippine Statistics Authority and Commission on Elections.