It is statistically flawed and patently misleading for President Rodrigo Duterte to boast during the Maskara Festival in Bacolod City that his margin of victory of six million votes established his ratings.
The results of the 2016 Presidential elections installed Duterte as President based on his braggadocio and exaggerated promises, not on his untested performance nationwide.
Duterte’s 16,601,997 votes constituted only a plurality of the 42,552,835 votes cast as the other presidential candidates garnered a combined total of 25,990,838 votes.
Duterte got 39% of the 42,552,835 votes cast for all of the presidential candidates and 38% of the 43,716,817 voter turnout.
If Duterte’s ratings were to be based on the voter turnout and preference in the presidential elections, then his ratings would even be lower that the recent SWS and Pulse Asia surveys which registered drastic falls in his performance and trust ratings.
An incumbent’s performance and trust ratings are vastly different from a candidate’s acceptability during the election.
An electoral mandate is never a viable yardstick or assurance of an outstanding performance while one holds office.
EDCEL C. LAGMAN