Pope Francis gets highest net trust rating in SWS history
April 8, 2015 9:57pm
Pope Francis enjoys the trust of nearly nine out of 10—or 87 percent—of Filipinos more than two months after his visit to the Philippines, according to a survey by the Social Weather Stations.

SWS said this trust level, as shown in its survey from March 20 to 23, showed Francis is now the most trusted Pope, surpassing that of Saint John Paul II, who had visited the country in 1981 and 1995.

It said 87 percent of adult Filipinos have much trust and only six percent have little trust in Pope Francis, while the remaining six percent were undecided.

This translates to an "excellent" net trust rating (percent of much trust minus percent little trust) of +81, SWS said in a news release Wednesday evening.

Pope Francis has the highest public trust rating in the history of SWS surveys.

SWS added Pope Francis' new net trust rating is 22 points better than his "very good" net +59 in September 2013 (71 percent much trust, 12 percent little trust) and December 2014 (72 percent much trust, 12 percent little trust).

Pope Francis visited on Jan. 15 to 19. He was warmly welcomed by Filipinos, many of whom who waited for him outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila.

During his visit, the Pope also went to Leyte to visit survivors of major calamities including super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013, though his visit there was cut short due to bad weather conditions.

The survey was conducted March 20 to 23, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.
Of these, there were 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Sampling error margins of 3% for national percentages, and 6% each for Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao applied to the survey.

SWS net trust ratings considers scores of +70 and above as "excellent"; +50 to +69 "very good"; +30 to +49 "good"; +10 to +29 "moderate"; +9 to -9 "neutral"; -10 to -29 "poor"; -30 to -49 "bad"; -50 to -69 "very bad"; and -70 and below "execrable".

Most trusted Pope

Pope Francis' +81 is higher than the +72 of Pope John Paul II in 1995.

John Paul II's net trust rating was already a "very good" +65 in December 1994, and improved to an "excellent" +72 in April 1995.

This eventually tapered off to a "very good" +58 in December 2003 and +62 in March 2005.

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict's net trust rating was "very good" at +58 in May 2005.

SWS noted its March 2015 survey respondents included 78 percent Catholics, five percent Muslims, three percent Iglesia ni Cristo, and 13 percent other Christians.

"Compared to December 2014, Pope Francis' net trust rating rose in all religions except among Iglesia ni Cristo," it said.

Among Catholics, his trust rating rose one grade to "excellent" +90 - a 22-point improvement from a "very good" +68 in December.

Among other Christians, it rose one grade to "very good" +67 - 27 points better from the "good" +40 in December.

Among Muslims, it improved one grade to "moderate" +19, up 27 points from "neutral" -8 in December.

But among the INC, it fell two grades to a "neutral" +2, down 31 points from "good" +33 in December. Joel Locsin/NB, GMA News

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