Filipinos biggest supporters of Trump globally: Pew Research

Globally, few are confident US President Donald Trump is “doing the right thing” in regard to world affairs.

But according to a report released by Pew Research on Monday, Filipinos are bucking that trend, ranking as the biggest supporters of US President Donald Trump worldwide.

“Trump’s greatest support in the current poll comes from Filipinos,” the poll’s report said.

Not exactly surprising considering that the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte, who enjoys high popularity ratings at home, is often called the “Trump of the East.”

And Duterte has not been shy in expressing his admiration for his US counterpart.

“Congratulations, Mr. Trump. I like you. We have the same kind of mouth,” Duterte told Trump after he won the US presidential election in November.

The report pegged the number of Filipinos who support Trump at 69%, who said they are “confident in the US president.”

Followed by the Philippines, came Nigeria at 58%, Vietnam at 58%, Israel at 56%, and Russia at 53%.

His lowest ratings came from Europe and Latin America.

Only 5% of Mexicans and 7% of Spainiards said they have confidence in Trump.

While more Filipinos expressed confidence in the Trump administration compared to other countries, it is still a much lower score than Barack Obama achieved among Filipinos in 2009.

During that survey, 94% of Filipinos surveyed expressed confidence in the former US president.

Surprisingly, while 69% of Filipinos may be confident in the Trump administration, 61% of Filipinos surveys disapproved of his plan to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

When asked about US-Philippines relations, 26% surveyed said they expect relations to improve, 55% expected things to say the same, while 12% said they believed relations with the US would get worse.

While Duterte may be warm with the US now, he had previously cursed former President Obama for criticizing his controversial war on drugs, which has seen, to date, 2,679 “drug dealers” shot by police and at least 5,000 more believed to have been killed by vigilantes.