Pulse: Sara Duterte’s trust, approval ratings still higher than Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — It’s apparently a tough crowd for both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte as a new survey showed that Filipinos were not as impressed with their performance in the last quarter as the country’s top officials.

The latest Pulse Asia quarterly survey released Thursday showed that trust and approval ratings for Mr. Marcos hardly showed any improvement in September, while that for Duterte slightly declined.

Despite the decrease, however, the vice president’s ratings remained higher than the President’s even amid her Senate impeachment trial, where she stands accused of unexplained wealth and misdeclaration of her statement of assets and liabilities, among others.

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The survey, conducted from Sept. 17 to Sept. 24, found that Mr. Marcos’ trust rating hardly changed from 28 percent in July to 29 percent in September, while his approval rating sightly went up from 29 percent to 30 percent.

Nearly half of Filipinos, or 48 percent, meanwhile, had little or no trust in him, while 29 percent said they had big trust, and 22 percent were undecided.

Mr. Marcos’ trust rating was highest in Luzon outside of Metro Manila (43 percent), followed by Metro Manila (29 percent), Visayas (23 percent), and lowest in Mindanao (8 percent).

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The share of respondents who distrust Mr. Marcos declined by three percentage points from 51 percent in July to 48 percent in September, while those who were undecided rose by one percentage point, from 21 percent to 22 percent.

Distrust in the President was the highest in Mindanao (66 percent), followed by Visayas (60 percent), Metro Manila (45 percent), and Luzon outside of Metro Manila (35 percent).

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The President received the highest approval rating in Luzon outside of Metro Manila (42 percent), followed by Metro Manila (31 percent), Visayas (24 percent), and Mindanao (10 percent).

On the other hand, almost half or 49 percent of Filipinos expressed disapproval toward his work in the past quarter, down by 1 percentage point from 50 percent in July. His disapproval rating was highest in Mindanao (71 percent), followed by Visayas (57 percent), Metro Manila (45 percent), and Luzon outside of Metro Manila (36 percent).

Slight decline

Those who were undecided whether they approve or disapprove of Mr. Marcos’ performance as President stayed at 21 percent.

The survey also found that while more than half of Filipinos continued to trust in the Vice President, her rating experienced a slight decline of 3 percentage points from 58 percent in July to 55 percent in September. Duterte’s approval rating also decreased by 2 percentage points, from 56 percent to 54 percent.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said they had big trust in Duterte as Vice President, while 27 percent expressed little or no trust in her, and 19 percent said they were undecided.

Duterte’s trust rating was highest in Mindanao (94 percent), followed by Visayas (57 percent), Metro Manila (43 percent), and Luzon outside Metro Manila (37 percent).

The share of respondents who expressed distrust of Duterte stayed at 27 percent, while those undecided increased by 3 percentage points from 16 percent to 19 percent.

Distrust in the Vice President was highest in Metro Manila (41 percent), followed by Luzon outside of Metro Manila (38 percent), Visayas (21 percent), and only 1 percent in Mindanao, her bailiwick.

Those who disapproved of Duterte’s performance as Vice President made up 27 percent, two percentage points lower than 29 percent in July, while undecided respondents rose by 3 percentage points from 15 percent to 18 percent.

Disapproval for Duterte was highest in Metro Manila (42 percent), followed closely by Luzon outside of Metro Manila (39 percent), Visayas (20 percent), and Mindanao (3 percent).

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The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 2,400 representative adults and has a plus-or-minus 2 percent error margin at the nationwide level and plus-or-minus 4 percent error margin for Metro Manila, Luzon outside of Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, at a 95 percent confidence level.