FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio. (Image from BBM / Facebook)
MANILA, Philippines — The approval ratings of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte dropped in the latest survey conducted by Pulse Asia in September.
From 80 percent in the June survey, Marcos’ approval rating fell to 65 percent, while Duterte’s decreased from 84 percent to 73 percent in the same period.
GRAPHICS BY SAMUEL YAP
“Although the President and the Vice-President continue to enjoy majority approval scores at the national level and across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, both experience significant erosions in their respective approval ratings during the period June 2023 to September 2023,” Pulse Asia pointed out in its report.
Marcos’ approval rating of 65 percent – just 15 months into his six-year term – is only one percentage point away from the lowest approval score that former president Rodrigo Duterte got in a Pulse Asia survey. The ex-president received an approval grade of 64 percent in the polling firm’s September 2021 census, and it was Rodrigo Duterte’s lowest rating as president of the country.
READ: Duterte has drawn high ratings from 2016 to 2022 – Pulse Asia
Nevertheless, Pulse Asia said the latest appraisal of the country’s top leaders still means Filipinos appreciate their work performance.
Eroding trust?
Trust ratings for both President Marcos and Vice President Duterte also declined in the double digits. Marcos trust rating dropped from 85 to 71 percent while Duterte’s fell from 87 to 74 percent.
Pulse Asia explained that the poll they conducted from September 10 to 14 coincided with certain key developments like the 2024 budget deliberations in Congress, where the confidential and intelligence funds of government agencies were highlighted, as well as the imposition of rice price cap via Executive Order No. 39.
READ: Sara Duterte’s secret funds as Davao mayor also draw scrutiny
It was also during that period when the controversy about the Department of Education’s memorandum revising the “diktadurang Marcos” (Marcos dictatorship) term to simply “diktadura” (dictatorship) in the Araling Panlipunan subject surfaced.
Pulse Asia’s September 2023 survey involved 1,200 adult respondents nationwide and had ± 2.8 percent margin of error.
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