MANILA- President Rodrigo Duterte scored 86 percent in both approval and trust ratings in his first three months in office, Pulse Asia claimed in its latest survey, results of which was announced Wednesday.

The survey, conducted from September 25 to October 1, 2016 using face-to-face interviews among 1,200 adults, also indicated that ambivalence (11%) toward presidential performance is more pronounced than outright disapproval (3%).

According to Pulse Asia, the president enjoys big majority approval scores across all geographic areas (Metro Manila - 80%; Balance Luzon - 84%; Visayas - 88%; Mindanao - 93%) and socio-economic classes (ABC - 82%; D - 86%; E - 88%).

This is Duterte's first performance rating as president from Pulse Asia.

Duterte's disapproval ratings meanwhile are consistently at single-digits across the geographic areas (Metro Manila - 6%; Balance Luzon - 3%; Visayas - 3%; Mindanao - 1%) and socio-economic classes (ABC - 6%; D - 3%; E - 4%).

HIGH TRUST

Pulse Asia said 86% of the public also expressed "big trust" to the president, only a slight dip from Duterte's record-high 91% in July. Pulse noted, the decline is negligible as it falls within the survey's overall error margin of +/- 3 percentage points.

His overall distrust/small trust rate remain small at 3% despite the 2.8% increase from his July numbers. The undecided also increased from 8% in July to 11% in September.

His trust rating across the geographic areas (Metro Manila - 81%; Balance Luzon - 82%; Visayas - 86%; Mindanao - 96%) and socio-economic classes (ABC - 85%; D - 85%; E - 88%) also remain high.

Like his performance ratings, his distrust/small trust rating is also at single-digits across the geographic areas (Metro Manila - 6%; Balance Luzon - 4%; Visayas - 2%; Mindanao - 1%) and socio-economic classes (ABC - 7%; D - 3%; E - 4%).

The national-level figures have a +/- 3% error margin at the 95% confidence level, while estimates at geographical areas have a +/- 6% error margin, also at 95% confidence level.

Pulse Asia noted these stories, among others, made headlines, leading to the conducting of the survey

- Self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato faced the Senate inquiry on the spate of extrajudicial killings, linking then-Mayor Duterte to the Davao Death Squad and to the killing of about 1,000 crime suspects and political opponents
- Denial from Duterte about knowing Matobato personally and from Paolo Duterte about ordering the killing of the businessman Matobato named
- Concern expressed by various groups about the the increasing death toll from Duterte's drug war
- Apology from Duterte to the Jewish community after referring to the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler in connection with his ongoing campaign against drugs
- Ouster of Senator Leila de Lima as chairperson of the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee
- Investigation of the House of Representatives into the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison; release of two narco-list, where Duterte named some local executives and high-ranking officials;