SWS: Filipinos’ trust in US, Australia, China drops

A new survey by the Social Weather Stations revealed that the Filipinos’ trust in the United States, Australia, and China suffered a drop in the first half of the year.

The U.S. earned a net trust rating of “good” +42, while Australia got “moderate” at +27. China, on the other hand, received a net trust rating of “bad” at -36.

According to the SWS, the U.S. suffered the biggest drop in net trust rating, going down from a “very good” +67 in December last year.

“Net trust in the U.S. has been positive since the SWS first surveyed it in December 1994. Out of 68 surveys, it ranged from ‘moderate’ +18 in May 2005 to ‘excellent’ +82 in December 2013,” it noted.

The new survey found that 60% of adult Filipinos said they have “much trust” in the U.S., while 18 percent said they have “little trust” in the country.

Australia’s net trust rating also fell down six points, from its “good” +33 in December 2019.

This was the lowest net trust score obtained by Australia, with 49% of Filipino adults saying they have “much trust” and 22% saying they have “little trust” in the country.

Meanwhile, China’s net trust rating further declined from its “poor” -27 in December last year, with only 22% of Filipinos expressing “much trust” against the 58% who expressed they have “little trust” in the country.

The SWS noted that this was the country’s lowest net trust rating since the “bad” -37 it received in April 2016.

“Net trust in China has been positive in only nine out of 53 surveys since the SWS first surveyed it in August 1994. It reached as high as ‘moderate’ +17 in June 2010 and as low as ‘bad’ -46 in September 2015,” the SWS said.

The survey, conducted from July 3 to 6, used mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing of 1,555 adult Filipinos, 18 years old and above, randomly drawn from a database of mobile phone numbers compiled from SWS national and subnational representative face-to-face surveys since 2017.

SWS also noted the sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, and ±5% for Balance Luzon, ±5% Visayas, and ±5% in Mindanao.