Marcos, Duterte approval ratings plummet in September – survey

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 2) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte saw double-digit declines in their approval ratings following developments in the West Philippine Sea, rising commodity prices, and concerns surrounding proposed confidential funds of agencies not directly engaged in maintaining the country’s security.

This is according to the latest survey by opinion polling firm Pulse Asia conducted from Sept. 10 to 14, with 1,200 participants.

Based on the survey released Monday, Marcos’ approval rating dropped 15 percentage points from 80% in June to 65% last month.

Duterte, meanwhile, also recorded an 11-point decrease from her 84% approval rating in June to 73%.

The performance rating of the vice president, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, remained higher than Marcos.

“Levels of approval for the President’s work decline in the Philippines as a whole (-15 percentage points) and in all areas and classes (-14 to -15 percentage points and -12 to -29 percentage points, respectively). As for the Vice- President, her approval ratings drop at the national level (-11 percentage points) as well as in Metro Manila (-12 percentage points), the rest of Luzon (-13 percentage points), Class ABC (-18 percentage points), and Class D (-11 percentage points),” it said.

Despite the “significant erosions” in their recent approval ratings, Pulse Asia noted that the top two leaders “continue to enjoy majority approval scores at the national level and across geographic areas and socio-economic classes.”

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo also posted lower approval ratings in September.

The nationwide survey has a ± 2.8% error margin at the 95% confidence level, while subnational estimates have a ± 5.7% margin of error for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.