Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's approval rating is over 80 per cent, despite urging mass killing

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86 per cent of Filipinos supported their controversial president Rodrigo Duterte at the end of his first three months in office, according to a recent survey.

Mr Duterte was elected leader in June after urging citizens and police to kill drug dealers, at least 1,400 people have been killed by police in anti-drug operations, and hundreds more by suspected vigilantes.

But the 71-year-old still has high trust and approval ratings within the country, the poll by Pulse Asia found.

Results of the survey, conducted from 25 September to 1 October and released on Wednesday, showed that 86 per cent of 1,200 respondent approved of Mr Duterte’s performance. Eleven per cent were ambivalent, but only three percent said they did not like him.

Mr Duterte was most popular in his native Mindanao, where 93 per cent of respondents said they supported his work.

Pulse Asia noted that “ambivalence” toward Duterte's performance “is more pronounced than outright disapproval,” with single-digit disapproval ratings across locations and socio-economic classes.

Internationally, Mr Duterte's offensive outbursts and promotion of violence have made him extremely unpopular.

The President has been condemned by defence ally the US, the United Nations, and the European Union, as well as human rights groups.

He recently compared himself to Hitler (although he later apologised), and called President Obama a “son of a whore”.

In addition to his controversial anti-drugs campaign, he has implemented a number of progressive social policies and championed the rights of indigenous people.