Fake: SWS-Stratbase poll that Filipinos support impeachment
A POLL is fake if its questionnaire is so deliberately skewed as to lead to a false description of people’s opinion.
This is exactly what the early-May Social Weather Station’s poll — paid for by anti-China, slavishly pro-US Stratbase Institute — which claimed that “68 percent” of the respondents wanted Vice President Sara Duterte to “address the impeachment charges, answer all allegations pertaining to corruption, and clear her name.”
The survey is so obviously flawed that the 81-year-old Mahar Mangahas who has been the pollster’s president for 39 years should apologize for the use of his firm for a blatantly political purpose, which is to put pressure on the Senate to convene the impeachment trial.
The first obvious red flag is that it wasn’t just a survey on whether Sara should cooperate in her impeachment trial.
It was actually, as the SWS itself titled it, “May 2025 Survey on people’s post-election expectations of the Senate, House of Representatives, selected national issues and Vice President Sara Duterte.” It had six categories in all asking respondents to give their views on 31 issues – all in one sitting.
Check the questions (image 1): At just five minutes reading each of the issues and mulling it over, it would take a respondent 2.5 hours to get through all the questions; at a rushed three minutes per, 1.5 hours.
The gall of Mangahas and his staff to think that Filipinos are so stupid as not to see how obviously flawed his survey is. In this discipline, the flaw is called the “survey or respondent fatigue” which an artificial-intelligence research app describes as follows:
“One subtle yet significant flaw that can undermine the integrity of a poll is the inclusion of too many questions, leading to a phenomenon known as survey fatigue. This flaw can be deliberately exploited by poll designers, especially when they want to manipulate responses to controversial questions.
“Survey fatigue, also called respondent fatigue, occurs when participants become tired, bored, or disengaged while completing a long or repetitive survey. As fatigue sets in, the quality of responses tends to decline. Early in the survey, respondents are usually attentive and thoughtful, carefully considering each question. However, as the number of questions increases, their attention wanes. They may start to rush through the survey, provide less thoughtful answers, or even abandon the survey altogether.
“This decline in response quality is well-documented in academic research. Studies have shown that longer surveys are associated with higher dropout rates and more superficial answers. Respondents may resort to ‘satisficing’ — choosing satisfactory rather than optimal answers — just to finish the survey more quickly.”
31 questions
The poll claiming 68 percent of Filipinos want Sara to face trial had 31 questions, all of which involve complicated issues, such as whether the respondent agrees to “supporting agricultural development with subsidies,” “strengthening governance reforms,” “climate resilience,” and even — without defining what the ‘West Philippine Sea’ is — “national security and defense in the WPS.”
The AI report explains: “Some pollsters, aware of the effects of survey fatigue, use it to their advantage. One manipulative tactic is to insert a controversial or sensitive question deep into a long survey, a practice sometimes referred to as “burying the lede.” The idea is to take advantage of the respondent’s fatigue and reduced attention span by the time they reach the controversial question.
“When respondents are fresh and alert at the beginning of a survey, they are more likely to notice and carefully consider a question that is complex, leading, or controversial. They may also be more likely to challenge the premise of the question or refuse to answer if they find it objectionable. However, after answering dozens of questions, respondents are often less vigilant. They may answer quickly, without considering the implications or nuances of the question. This makes them more susceptible to subtle biases in the question’s wording or framing.
“The placement of a controversial question in a long survey can significantly affect the results. If the question were asked at the beginning of the survey, when respondents are most attentive, the responses might be more thoughtful and nuanced. Respondents might challenge the premise of the question, ask for clarification, or even refuse to answer if they find it offensive or misleading. However, when the same question is buried in a long survey, the responses are more likely to be superficial or uncritical.”
This is exactly what the SWS-Stratbase report did, with the question on the impeachment being among the last in its 31 series of questions (image 2).
Not only that. The questionnaire on Sara all elicited “definitely should” responses, as these were no-brainer questions, such as “Focus on implementing her own platform and policies,” “continue her duties as vice president.” The dirty trick of SWS (or was it Stratbase which designed the questionnaire?) is that the response it really wanted (for propaganda purposes) was inserted in these fourth series of questions. The respondents’ claimed stand on addressing “the impeachment charges,” would appear as another innocuous issue as the rest, not the burning political issue at this time.
“Impeachment” is a technical procedure with very important consequences for the accused if found guilty, which most Filipinos aren’t really aware of. Among these, it bans the impeached forever from holding any public office; it has a low threshold of evidence compared to regular courts; and even if a senator doesn’t understand the evidence presented — as then senator-judge Lito Lapid didn’t in the Corona impeachment — his vote is as valid that of any of the senators. Thus, asking Filipinos whether they want Sara to be impeached or not requires a long explanation.
Imagine if SWS asked the following question in its poll: “Would you want an impeachment trial for Sara if there’s a risk that the senators — not necessarily on the basis of evidence but for politics — would find her guilty and ban her from ever occupying a public office?” Given Sara’s Pulse Asia May trust ratings of 50 percent, I’d bet 90 percent would say “No.”
This is the second time that Stratbase has used the SWS to falsely claim that most Filipinos favored the impeachment trial. Last Jan. 15, I reported its poll’s manipulation of data to falsely show that 41 percent of respondents wanted the impeachment. However, SWS did — stupidly I think — disclose in its report data that show more accurately Filipinos’ views on the issue: 55 percent weren’t aware or don’t know enough of the issue. Statistically tied are those who agreed with the impeachment (19 percent) and those who didn’t (16 percent).
SWS and Stratbase should be condemned for trying to fool people in this very important issue of our time.
(One Dindo Manhit has been Stratbase president since 2012, when it was set up to practically act as the anti-China propaganda arm for the Philippines’ suit against China. The man behind it was actually the late Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, its chairman. After he passed away, the post hasn’t been filled up to this day, with its vice chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan officially the outfit’s top dog. Pangilinan is the top executive of the Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim who controls half of the First Pacific holding firm of the Metro Pacific conglomerate. Manhit is just an employee. Are Pangilinan and Salim therefore financing and directing Stratbase anti-China and now anti-Sara propaganda?)
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Fake: SWS-Stratbase poll that Filipinos support impeachment
Source: Breaking News PH
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