Marcos ratings up but Duterte's fall

AN independent and non-commissioned survey by Pahayag showed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s approval and trust ratings improved from 55 percent in the third quarter of the year to 58 percent in the fourth quarter.

This recovery was attributed to increased support in North-Central Luzon (NCL) from 56 percent to 62 percent, special land (SL) from 49 percent to 55 percent, and the Visayas from 52 percent to 57 percent. The President’s resurgence was also buoyed by middle-income voters (51 percent to 60 percent), Catholics (51 percent to 57 percent), and the self-employed group (54 percent to 62 percent), Pahayag said in a statement sent to The Manila Times on Wednesday.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte

But the same survey also showed a decline in Vice President Sara Duterte’s approval rating, dropping from 62 percent to 59 percent.

Duterte’s downward trend is particularly pronounced in Mindanao, where approval decreased from 84 percent to 76 percent.

Contributing to the decline were various demographic groups, including the age groups 40-49 years old (68 percent to 63 percent), 50-59 years old (56 percent to 51 percent), senior citizens (57 percent to 49 percent), low income (66 percent to 62 percent), high income (60 percent to 53 percent), private workers (65 percent to 60 percent), government workers (70 percent to 61 percent), the unemployed (54 percent to 50 percent), non-OFW families (62 percent to 56 percent), vocational (70 percent to 58 percent), and college-educated individuals (62 percent to 59 percent).

Previous survey polls by other independent firms also showed Duterte’s popularity decreasing in many areas of the country, especially during the inquiries by the Senate and House of Representatives on her controversial P650 million in confidential funds — P500 million for the Office of the Vice President and P150 million for the Department of Education — in the proposed 2024 budget which was rejected by lawmakers.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri also showed a notable recovery in the survey, bouncing back from a decline of 43 percent to 47 percent.

This recovery was driven by increased support in special land (SL) from 35 percent to 47 percent. Additionally, positive shifts are observed among the age group 30-39 years old (44 percent to 55 percent), middle-income (43 percent to 50 percent), Catholics (42 percent to 47 percent), the unemployed (35 percent to 44 percent), and college-educated individuals (44 percent to 48 percent), Pahayag said.

The same survey showed that House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s approval rating has stabilized, though a downward trend was evident, declining from 42 percent in the second quarter to 37 percent in the third quarter, and further to 36 percent in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo had the most stable approval rating at 37 percent and a trust rating of 28 percent. Though approval and trust are low, the chief magistrate does not lose or gain much and is just stable across quarters, demographics and psychographics, said Pahayag.

As for the trust ratings of the national leaders, recovery to a flat trend is seen for Marcos (from 47 percent to 48 percent) and Zubiri (33 percent to 35 percent), and a downward trend for Duterte (from 55 percent to 53 percent). Romualdez’s trust rating continues to plunge from 29 percent to 25 percent, resulting in a low/no trust of 29 percent.

The recent Pahayag End of Year Survey, conducted from November 29 to December 4, provided a different perspective on the approval and trust ratings of key political figures in the Philippines.

The latest survey, conducted by Publicus Asia Inc., used purposive sampling of 1,500 respondents randomly drawn from the market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with a multinational presence. The sample was restricted to registered Filipino voters.