MANILA, Philippines — The trust rating of Vice President Leni Robredo plunged by 15 points owing to significant declines in her ratings across all geographical areas, a survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The First Quarter 2017 SWS survey done from March 25 to 28, 2017 showed that 55 percent of adult Filipinos had much trust in the vice president while 25 percent trusted her little, for a net trust rating of 30 percent.

This quarter’s trust rating for Robredo is 15 points lower than the 45 percent net trust rating she received in December 2016.

Trust rating refers to the public trust in a personality as a whole and is different from satisfaction rating which pertains to an individual’s performance related to his duty or position, according to SWS.

Georgina Hernandez, the vice president’s spokesperson, said that the survey results showed that many Filipinos still trusted Robredo and her ability to serve those on the margins of society.

“We are grateful for the continued show of trust in Vice President Leni Robredo reflected in the recent SWS Trust Rating survey results,” Hernandez said. “We are encouraged by the results of this survey which covers the period from December 2016 to March 2017 - the first three months that VP Leni began work outside of Cabinet, and focused all her efforts on Angat Buhay, the Office of the Vice President's Anti-Poverty initiative.”

Lower scores across the country

The 15-pont drop in Robredo’s rating was due to significant declines in the number of people who had trust in the vice president across the Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The steepest decline was seen in Mindanao, where her trust rating fell by 32 points from 52 percent (65 much trust, 13 little trust) in December to 20 percent (48 much trust, 28 little trust). This was a downgrade of two levels, from very good to moderate.

Her trust rating in Metro Manila fell by one grade, from very good to moderate, as her number went down by 10 points from 30 percent (55 much trust, 25 percent little trust) in December 2016 to 20 percent (51 much trust, 31 little trust) in March.

In Visayas and Mindanao, Robredo saw 10-percent declines.

Her trust rating fell to 33 percent (57 much trust, 24 little trust) in March from 43 points in December (62 percent much trust, 19 percent little trust).

The vice president’s Visayas rating for the first quarter was at 40 percent (59 much trust, 19 little trust). This was down from 50 percent (66 much trust, 17 little trust) in December 2016.

Her trust rating in urban and rural areas also fell from good to moderate

It plunged to 23 percent (52 much trust, 29 little trust) in urban areas in the first quarter from 47 percent (64 much trust, 17 little trust) in the last quarter of last year.

In rural places, it went down by seven points, from 42 percent (61 much trust, 19 little trust) to 35 percent (58 much trust, 22 little trust) last quarter.

Robredo’s rating remains good among class E and moderate among members of classes ABC and D.

She is more trusted by women compared to men.

Robredo’s trust rating among women is at 33 percent from 47 percent in December while her rating among men was at 26 percent from 42 points in December.

The vice president is also more trusted by 18 to 54 year olds than by those belonging to 55 or above range.

In terms of educational background, she obtained a good rating among non-elementary and elementary graduates, moderate among high school graduates and neutral among those who have college degrees.

The survey was conducted at the height of criticisms directed at the vice president for a video message she sent to a United Nations (UN) side event in which she criticized the government's campaign against illegal drugs.

The March 2017 survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It had a margin of error of +/- three percent for national percentages and +/- six percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.