Filipinos continue to place the highest level of trust in the United States among the Philippines’ key allies, while Iran recorded the lowest trust rating in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Friday.
The nationwide poll, conducted from June 20 to 29 among 1,200 adult respondents, with a margin of error of ±3 percentage points, revealed positive net trust scores for traditional partners such as the US, Japan and Australia. Meanwhile, countries linked to ongoing geopolitical tensions, such as China, Israel, Palestine, Russia and Iran, registered neutral to negative scores.
SWS categorizes net trust ratings of +70 and above as “excellent” (+70 and above), “very good” (+50 to +69), “good” (+30 to +49), “moderate” (+10 to +29), “neutral” (+9 to -9), “poor” (-10 to -29), “bad” (-30 to -49), “very bad” (-50 to -69), and “execrable” (-70 and below).
Among top allies, the United Statews maintained its leading position with a “good” net trust rating of ±42, up from ±39 in the first quarter of 2026. Sixty percent of respondents expressed “much trust” in the US, while 18 percent expressed “little trust.” Japan also held a “good” rating, rising to ±36 from ±34, with 55 percent reporting much trust and 19 percent little trust, Australia stayed in “moderate” territory despite slipping to ±23 from ±29, with 42 percent reporting much trust and 19 percent little trust.
Countries registering neutral scores included Israel, which dropped to -5 from +1 in March, with 30 percent expressing much trust and 34 percent little trust. Russia also remained “neutral” at -8, dipping from -5 in the prior survey, with 28 percent reporting much trust and 36 percent little trust.
Nations in the poor bracket were led by China, which improved slightly to -16 from -19, with 25 percent expressing much trust and 41 percent little trust. Palestine fell further into “poor” territory at -19 from -12, with 18 percent reporting much trust and 37 percent little trust. Iran posted the lowest score among all eight nations surveyed at -23, classified as “poor” and down slightly from -22 in the first quarter, with 19 percent reporting much trust and 43 percent little trust.
Iran posted the lowest net trust score among all eight countries surveyed at -23, also classified as “poor.” Nineteen percent of respondents said they had much trust in Iran, while 43 percent reported little trust, slightly worsening from -22 in the first quarter.