Only 11% of 1,200 Filipinos surveyed by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) agency said they were dissatisfied with his performance. That gave Duterte a net satisfaction rating of 64 percent, getting him off to a better start than predecessors Benigno Aquino, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but short of the 66% achieved by Fidel Ramos in 1992.
The rating, announced on October 6, was calculated by deducting the 11% from the 76% of respondents who said they were satisfied with Duterte's presidency, then rounding it off. Thirteen percent were undecided.
The SWS survey did not ask respondents to give a reason for the rating. It was conducted in face-to-face interviews held from September 24-27, after Duterte had a spat with President Barack Obama over criticism of his anti-dugs campaign but before he said he was seeking new alliances with China and Russia.
A survey by Pulse Asia, another polling agency, less than a month after he took office on June 30 said Duterte had a record 91% trust rating. The two polls are not comparable.
Duterte won the May 9 election by a substantial margin after promising to expand a ruthless anti-crime campaign he started while mayor of Davao City, which had earned him nicknames like "the Punisher" and "Duterte Harry".
