SWS: Filipinos’ net trust “very good” for US, “neutral” for China

Net trust for Australia, Japan “good”

(Eagle News)—Net trust for the United States remained “very good” among Filipinos, while that for China was at neutral, and for Australia and Japan “good,”  a recent Social Weather Stations survey found.

The Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey said the +60 net trust rating for the US in December 2018 translated to 71% with much trust and 11% with little trust in the country, hardly moving from the +59 net trust rating in September 2018.

The SWS said net trust rating in the US   “has been positive since SWS first surveyed it in December 1994, ranging from a moderate +18 in May 2005 to as high as excellent+82 in December 2013.”

“It has been at +60 and above in five out of six surveys since June 2017,” the SWS said.

China

As for China, the SWS said its -7 net trust rating was an increase of 23 points from the -16 in September 2018.

The -7, the SWS said, translates to 31% Filipinos with much trust in the Asian giant, and 39% with little trust.

Net trust in China, the SWS said, has been positive in only 9 out of 48 surveys since SWS first surveyed it in August 1994.

“It reached as high as moderate +17 in June 2010 and as low as a bad -46 in September 2015,” the pollster said.

Japan

According to the SWS, the +34 net trust for Japan translated to 53 percent of Filipinos with much trust in the country and 19 percent with little trust.

The +34, the SWS said, was up by 6 points from the +28 in September 2018.

When SWS first surveyed public trust in Japan in December 1994, it said it found neutralnet ratings from December 1994 to December 1996, ranging from -2 to +9.

It said this rose to a moderate +17 in June 1997, and “has since then been at moderate to good levels, reaching as high as very good +54 in December 2017.”

Australia

As for Australia, the SWS said net trust rating stayed at good, at +31.

The +31 translated to 49% of Filipinos with much trust, and 19% with little trust in the country in December 2018, although this was down by 5 points from the +36 in June 2018.

“This is the lowest in over nine years, since the moderate +19 in September 2009,” the SWS said.

According to the pollster, net trust in Australia was a moderate +11 when SWS first surveyed it in April 1995.

“It ranged from neutral +3 to moderate +25 from September 1995 to March 2008. It rose to good+31 in September 2008, and has since then been at +30 and above, except for the moderate +19 in September 2009,” it added.

Survey background

The survey was conducted from December 16-19, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Sampling error margins were pegged at  ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.