Most Filipinos satisfied with democracy – SWS survey

The satisfaction rating among Filipinos with the way democracy in the country works has risen, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed on Wednesday.

The survey showed that the satisfaction of Filipinos toward democracy rose to a near-record high of 69 percent, rising from the 68 percent rating registered in June 2010.

The survey agency also said that the satisfaction rating of 69 percent was next to the record 70 percent registered in July 1998.

The survey also found a majority of the respondents, or 56 percent, saying that “democracy is always preferable to any other kind of government,” while 27 percent say that “under some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one.” Furthermore, the survey showed 16 percent as saying that “for people like me, it does not matter whether we have a democratic or a non-democratic regime.”

Meanwhile, the survey said that the satisfaction with the way democracy works spiked to peaks after the May 2010 polls.

The satisfaction rating with the way democracy works spiked to peaks of 70 percent in October 1992, 70 percent in July 1998, and 68 percent in June 2010, obviously related to the successful process of the presidential elections of 1992, 1998 and 2010, respectively.

The latest survey said that the proportion of Filipino respondents who said that “democracy is always preferable to any other kind of government” increased from 49 percent in June 2008 to 56 percent in September 2010.

The survey added that those who said “for people like me, it does not matter whether we have a democratic or a non-democratic regime” fell to 16 percent in September 2010 after ranging from 25 percent to 28 percent from 2006 to 2009.

The SWS survey on democracy, which was conducted from September 24 to 27, 2010 used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It has a margin of error of plus and minus 3 percent in national percentages and plus and minus 6 percent for area percentages.

The survey agency, however, said that the “surveys on satisfaction with democracy and preference for democracy are not commissioned, but are done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service.” –Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz, Reporter, Manila Times