Pulse Asia: More Pinoys are against Cha-cha, know little about Constitution

The number of Filipinos against changing the Constitution reached 45% which is more than those in favor of it at 41%, a Pulse Asia poll showed.

The Pulse Asia survey, which was conducted last March 15 to 19, showed that the 45% of those opposed to charter change (Cha-cha) was down from 56% in September last year.

The number of those opposed to Cha-cha reached 51% in Mindanao, 40% in Visayas and 39% in Balance Luzon, all down from September 2022 numbers of 60%, 54% and 55%, respectively.

Only the National Capital Region (NCR) scored increased opposition to Cha-cha with 59%, slightly up from the September 2022 number of 54%.

On the other hand, those in favor of changing the 1987 Constitution increased to 41% which is a 10-percentage point increase from the 31% in September 2022.

Visayas has the highest percentage of those in favor of Cha-cha at 55%, a 28-percentage point increase from 27% in September 2022.

Those in favor of Cha-cha in Balance Luzon reached 41% which is a 10-percentage point hike from September 2022 (31%), while pro-Cha-cha in Mindanao went up to 37% from 32% in September 2022.

Those in favor of Cha-cha in the National Capital Region, however, decreased to 27% from 33% in September 2022.

Little to no idea of the Constitution

At the same time, the number of Filipinos with little to no knowledge of the 1987 Constitution went up to 79% from 73% in September 2022.

Of those 79%, 44% had little knowledge of the Charter, which is slightly higher than the 42% in September 2022.

On the other hand, those who have almost none or no knowledge at all reached 34%, also higher than the September 2022 figure of 31%.

Only 21% of Filipinos were found to have sufficient knowledge on the 1987 Charter which is lesser than 27% in September 2022.

Of the 21%, only 2% have a great deal of knowledge, a decrease from the 3% posted in September 2022.

On the other hand, 19% of the 21% responded that they don’t have a great deal but a sufficient amount of knowledge about the Constitution.

The 19% was lower than the 24% who responded that they don’t have a great deal but a sufficient amount of knowledge about the Constitution in September 2022.

The Pulse Asia poll was done using face-to-face interviews on 1,200 adults aged 18 years old and above.

The Pulse Asia survey has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level.

Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the poll have the following error margins at 95% confidence level: ±5.7% for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and  Mindanao. —KG, GMA Integrated News