Sunteți pe pagina 1din 5

Getting to Know Filipino Voters 0

BY MANILA TIMES

ON

JULY 17, 2015

http://www.manilatimes.net/getting-toknow-filipino-voters/201351/
Political Mindscape 2 or PolMindscape is a
national psychographics survey done by
the Philippines first and only registered
lobbying and political management firm,
Publicus Asia Inc. Backed by 13 years of
professional
experience
in
political
consulting in Manila and the ASEAN
region, the non-commissioned survey was
conducted by PUBLiCUS technical arm,
Vox Opinion Research on 22 February to 4
March 2015 and covers political interests,
attitudes, opinions (or IAO) and beliefs of
young voters between the ages of 17-45.
It includes interviews with a nationally
representative sample of young Filipinos
(n=1,500). The first PolMindscape survey
was a commissioned survey done last
2009 and made public during the
organizational meeting of the Association
of Political Consultants in Asia or APCA (PH
Chapter)
last
28
November
2014.

Psychographics versus Demographics


Often campaign planning in the country focuses on
demographics, on variables such as social economic
status, age, gender, locale, among others.
Demographic analysis can cover whole societies, or
groups defined by criteria such as education,
nationality,
religion
and
ethnicity.
While
psychographics is the study and classification of
people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and
other psychological criteria, especially in market
research. The sooner candidates realize that
elections are not about them rather, more and more
about the fragmented voters whom they can only
connect if they understood what makes them stand
out in terms of shared IAO.

With psychographics, it will no longer be a mass


bombardment of TV ads placing more and more
money on frequency and forgetting all about reach
since the candidate may not know what is important
for the voters. There are two kinds of votes: market
and command votes. It is easier to deal with
command votes because those are the candidates
hard support.

How one deciphers and listens to market votes is a


function of psychographic variables. Segmentation,
targeting and positioning of the voters can only be
made if the candidate knows his voters, which can be
broken down to High Anxiety, Low Information and
Moderate Expectations. Political campaigns typically
do a good job of connecting with the first two
categories and a relatively poor job with the
moderates.

Voters care most about character


Each election candidate brings to the table a unique
set of characteristics and propositions. Journalists,
voter advocates, writers, and interest groups
frequently opine that Filipinos should think about
platforms rather than personality when considering
the people running for office. Results of this survey
shows that young voters still put candidate character
above experience, positions, and education when
considering their votes for President and Senator.

It is simplistic to say, however, that people vote on


personality.

They vote based on their perception of the quality of


a candidates character. Among a long list of a
persons features, voters most frequently chose the

following candidate traits as being most important in


considering their vote for President: Maka-Diyos
(14%), May malasakit (Compassionate 14%), Mabilis
magdesisyon at kumilos (Decisive 13%), Matalino
(Intelligent
12%),
and
Mapagkakatiwalaan
(Trustworthy 12%). For Senator the most frequently
identified important traits are Mapagkakatiwalaan
(Trustworthy 15%), Maka-Diyos (12%), Matulungin
sa nangangailangan (Helps the needy 10%), and
Maka-masa (Pro-poor 10%).

For presidential candidates, it is of prime importance


in choosing whom to vote that their locality received
personal help from the candidate (26.3%), the second
most important is being pro-poor (18.8%). This
interest in local help is reflected in the young publics
interest in what is happening in local politics (78%
interested), and many agree that most of the issues
being discussed in Manila do not affect their own
personal lives (55%).

Voters were asked to rank in order of importance in


their vote choice, the following candidate traits:
candidates character, level of education or course
studied, experience in politics, views in life, beliefs
or principles in life. By a large percentage, candidate
character is ranked most important or second most
important by young voters. The rest of the options
have fairly equal distribution of responses, none
clearly besting the others.
Voters are exposed to many sources of information
and opportunities to talk about whom they are going
to vote for. Chart 1 shows the percentage of young
voters that agree with some statements that describe
things people do to learn about the candidates. Most
voters try to get to know the candidates and their
political parties well, while smaller majorities
consider other peoples opinions and discuss the
elections with others. Sixty-six percent (66%) say
that they sometimes dont know enough about a
candidate to vote for him or her.

Chart 1. Percent of young voters agreeing with


statements
When probed about the visions in life of a political
candidate, the potential voters are particular about the
track record of the candidate in terms of fulfilling
promises (23%), applying personal outlook in life in
serving the country (20%) , and assertiveness (19%).
Attitudes about politics
The survey carried a number of questions that asked
about peoples attitudes regarding politics and the
elections. Many young voters, 46%, agree that
elections do not bring about change. This is a cynical
view of elections that does not necessarily mean they
will not participate in the process, since 91% of them
say they intend to vote in 2016.
Conflict in politics is believed to be bad (80%) while
61% say that is about helping the needy. Corruption,
which is often identified as one of the biggest
problems in Philippines politics by voters, is thought
to be fixable if a leader is chosen who is against it.
Telephone and the Internet
Telephone subscription is still at low level; less than a
tenth have telephone subscription. Cellphone
ownership and usage, though, is near universal; nine
in ten own a cellphone and four in ten are actually
smartphone owners. Internet access at home is
limited to about a tenth of the adult population; others
access the internet through internet cafes, at school or
office, and through data connection.
Traditional media use
More than half watch news on TV at least four times
a week; specifically those from NCR, urban areas and
class ABC homes. On the other hand, those from
rural Visayas areas, predominantly the class E, are the
least likely to watch news on TV. Overall reach of
radio is significantly lower than TV. Only about a
third of the adult population listens to news on the
radio, specifically those from North Luzon and the
younger age group (17-24 y.o.). Higher incidence of
those who listen to radio at least four times a week is

notable among the older age segment, 35-45 y.o., and


in the Visayas. Newspaper readership is much lower
as compared to radio and TV consumption. Only
about a fifth of the adult population read news on
newspaper. Most of the NCR residents, specifically
those from class ABC homes, read news on
newspapers once a week.
Television is still the most popular medium for
advocating ads for political personalities followed by
radio and posters. About half (46%) claim that they
had a better opinion about certain political
personalities after seeing their political ads,
specifically those from South Luzon and Mindanao.
Social media use
About half (42%) use Facebook and only a few use
Instagram. Most popular device used to access the
social media is smartphone followed by computers.
Readership of news via the internet is at the same
level as the newspapers reach, i.e. about a fifth of the
adult population. Adults from NCR, urban areas,
class ABC homes and 17-24 years old read news
online at least four times a week. Those from rural
areas, class E and older age group (35-45 y.o.) are the
least likely to access news on the internet, likely due
to poor internet signal or low purchasing power to
acquire/access the internet.
A very small minority (5%) follow political
personalities through Facebook or Twitter, generally
to show their support. Surprisingly, there are more
adults in Mindanao who follow political personalities
through the said social media.
Do you believe in surveys?
More than six in ten are aware of opinion surveys;
awareness level of opinion surveys is significantly
higher in North Luzon and urban areas. Only about
half of the adult population express confidence in the
reliability of the results of polling surveys; Visayas
and Mindanao register notably higher incidence of
adults who find polling survey results trustworthy.

Interstingly, only about a third of those who


acknowledge the trustworthiness of polling survey
results admit that they will not change their voting
preference based on the output of polls; notably those
from North Luzon. Voting preference of those from
South Luzon and Mindanao, on the other hand, are
more likely to change based on the polling survey
results.
Who influences voter more?
More than half consider the recommendations of their
family
(86%)
as
well
as
the
information/communication they see on TV (56%) to
have the biggest impact on their choice of political
candidate to vote for. Those from South Luzon also
consider the recommendations from public officials
(34%) and friends (35%) in deciding who to vote for.
In
Mindanao, word-of-mouth within their
neighborhood (30%) also plays an important role in
their voting preference.
Factors affecting preference on E-Day
Come election day, voters preference may differ or
change depending on the political TV ads (69%) that
they will be exposed to, more notably among the
voters in Visayas (76%) and Mindanao (79%).
Around four in ten, on the other hand, may change
their decision as to who to vote for based on the
sample ballots (42%), political jingles (35%) and
posters (34%) that will be propagated during the
election day. Endorsement of the incumbent president
is ranked 6th at 13%, with Mindanao having the
highest at 23%.
Considerations
president

in

choosing

About half of the potential voters have a soft heart for


a Presidential candidate who personally helps (53%)
the masses in different areas; maka-masa (38%) and
personally visits and seen campaigning in the
community (21%).
Probing further on how best to show compassion for
the people or pagmamalasakit sa kapwa, adults
expect a compassionate presidential candidate to

prioritize his countrymens welfare (39%) by


providing livelihood (10%), medical/health benefits
(8%), assistance during calamities/tragedies (7%),
scholarships and housing projects instead of taking
personal advantage of the countrys wealth (5%).
Looking into experience, a political candidate,
specifically a presidential candidate, who is
considered inexperienced or walang karanasan o
kulang pa sa karanasan is not well versed/or does
not have sufficient knowledge about politics (78%),
and about leadership (14%). It is also apparent that a
presidential candidates previous political experience
plays an important role in the voters considerations;
only about a fourth are willing to consider a
presidential candidate with no or limited political
experience.
Issues that the next president should be able to
address
Livelihood or jobs (74%), education (57%), economy
(43%) and health care (43%) are the top local issues
that the next elected president should be able to
address. Corruption is ranked at 5th with 35%.
Time left
Candidates have some months remaining to convince
voters toward their side since most Filipinos do not
think about whom they will vote for until a month
before the election or less. Only 12% say they start
thinking about it one year before the election, 12%
about 6 months before, 13% one month before, 25%
a week before, and 24% one day before voting day.
Another 6% say they only think about it on the day of
the election.
Perceptions
Incumbents

on

Corruption

of

There is almost an equal split of those who believe


that nearly all (43%) vis those who say that there are
only a few (51%) of the incumbent government
leaders have taken advantage of their position. About
half, also believe that majority (49%) of the
politicians are corrupt but more than a third (38%)
have no opinion regarding this issue.

Among all the former Presidents of the Philippines,


Corazon Aquino (40%) tops the list of not corrupt
Presidents. Her son and incumbent President Noynoy
Aquino is at a distant second place (18%). Among the
former Vice-Presidents, Noli de Castro has the most
mentions as a not corrupt official (37%). The
incumbent, Jojo Binay is at 12%. 20% did not pick
anyone while 21% said none.
When asked to agree or disagree with the statement:
ang pipiliin kong pangulo ay di korupt, 76% agreed
while 26% disagreed.
There is still a larger proportion of the potential
voters population who believe that President Noynoy
Aquino is not involved in any form of graft and
corruption (37%). However, there is a higher
incidence of those who doubt President Aquinos
trustworthiness in the NCR (32%) and urban areas
(28%).
Approximately eight in ten believe that VicePresident Jejomar Binay is corrupt, specifically those
from North Luzon (25%) and among the class ABC
(41%) homes. Only 23% said the Vice President is
not corrupt. More than half also claim that they will
not vote Jojo Binay for President in the coming
elections, more notably in NCR (76%) and among the
25-34 years old segment (68%). Those who still
consider Binay as a contender for the Presidential
race, amidst the corruption issues directed to him
acknowledge and highlight Binays accomplishments
in Makati (43%) (i.e. housing projects, scholarship
programs and assistance for the OFWs), his
intelligence, assertiveness and kindness.
Views on Politics and Democracy
More than half of the potential voters believe that
resolving corruption (48%) and having efficient
political environment in the government depend on
the commitment and harmonious relationship (47%)
among the leaders. Four in ten, on the other hand,
advocate that there is democracy (44%) in the
Philippines. And consequently, political leaders
should be transparent (44%) with their governance,
while Filipinos should exercise their right to vote
(40%) and report anomalies (38%) in the government

because its an expression of their unity with the


nation.
More than a third consider election as an expression
of political system (34%). About a fourth, though,
agree that politicking is a form of berating ones
political opponents (26%). Also about a fourth
consider politics as a means of helping those in need
(26%) and joining rallies is the citizens outlet to air
their complaints against the government (26%). Only
a few (24%) believe that corruption is a sole problem
of the government and that politics has nothing good
to offer to the society (17%).
Views as a Voter
As voters, close to six in ten agree it is their
responsibility as citizens to exercise their right to
vote (59%), because their votes are important (58%)

and can change a nation (47%). Corroborating their


stringent considerations in choosing who to vote for,
about four in ten confirm that they scrutinize and
examine the political candidates (47%) and parties
(44%) vying for positions in government, specifically
their previous experience in public service (37%).
About three in ten claim that they are interested to
understand the local happenings in politics (33%) and
voting system in the Philippines (26%), and feel
guilty if they fail to exercise their right to vote (28%).
A fourth admit that they listen to the opinion of other
people (23%) when they are deciding which
candidate to vote for because they feel that
sometimes they dont have enough knowledge (24%)
about a political candidate.

S-ar putea să vă placă și