PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte continue to receive the highest approval and trust ratings among government officials, with the latter still the most approved and trusted, the December 3 to 7 Ulat ng Bayan survey of Pulse Asia showed.
The survey, which involved 1,200 adults nationwide with a margin of error of ±2.8 percent, showed the President’s approval rating improved to 68 percent in December from 65 percent in September while Duterte’s approval rating was statistically unchanged at 74 percent from 73 percent.
The President and the Vice President suffered a 15-point (65 percent from 80 percent) and 11-point drop (73 percent from 84 percent), respectively, in their approval ratings last September.
Marcos was most approved in Luzon (74 percent), followed by the Visayas (66 percent), Metro Manila (64 percent) and Mindanao (64 percent); and among socio-economic Class D (69 percent), followed by Class E (68 percent) and Class ABC (63 percent).
Duterte was most approved in Mindanao (93 percent), followed by the Visayas (73 percent), Luzon (69 percent) and Metro Manila (61 percent); and among Class E (79 percent), followed by D (73 percent) and ABC (72 percent).
Pulse Asia said the President’s trust rating was 73 percent in December from 71 percent in September while Duterte was 78 percent from 75 percent.
This was a slight change after the two leaders suffered a big drop in trust ratings last September. The President’s trust rating went down by 14 points (71 percent from 85 percent) while the Vice President’s was down by 12 points (75 percent from 87 percent).
Marcos was most trusted in Metro Manila (76 percent), followed by the Visayas (73 percent), Luzon (72 percent) and Mindanao (70 percent); and among socio-economic class E (74 percent), followed by Class D (72 percent) and Class ABC (71 percent).
Duterte was most trusted in Mindanao (96 percent), followed by the Visayas (83 percent), Metro Manila (76 percent) and Luzon (69 percent); and among Class E (84 percent), followed by ABC (78 percent) and D (77 percent).
OTHER LEADERS
Pulse Asia said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri garnered a near majority approval rating of 49 percent (from 50 percent) and a majority trust rating of 51 percent (from 49 percent), while Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez received a 39 percent approval (down from 41 percent) and 40 percent trust (up from 38 percent).
Romualdez was the most disapproved among the top four officials of government with 13 percent (from 14 percent) and most distrusted with 14 percent (unchanged), followed by Zubiri with 12 percent disapproval (from 8 percent) and 10 percent distrust (from 8 percent).
Marcos scored a 9 percent disapproval rating (from 10 percent) and a distrust rating of 7 percent (6 percent) while Duterte garnered an 8 percent disapproval rating (up from 5 percent) and a 6 percent distrust rating (from 5 percent).
ADMIN’S SCORE
Pulse Asia said the Marcos government also scored majority approval ratings for its performance or how it handled eight issues which includes protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with 78 percent (up from 74 percent) and responding to the needs of areas affected by calamities with 76 percent (up from 72 percent).
Others were stopping the destruction and abuse of the environment with 62 percent (up from 54 percent), promoting peace with 61 percent (down from 63), defending the integrity of the Philippine territory with 61 percent (up from 59 percent), fighting criminality with 56 percent (from 57 percent), enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people, with 51 percent (down from 55 percent), and providing assistance to farmers including selling their products with 50 percent (down from 55 percent).
The administration garnered a near majority approval rating of 45 percent (from 43 percent) on the issue of creating more jobs but suffered a 15-point drop to 30 percent (from 45 percent) on the issue of fighting graft and corruption.
It also suffered a seven-point drop on the issues of increasing the pay of workers (34 percent from 41 percent) and controlling inflation (9 percent from 16 percent), a five-point drop on the issues of addressing involuntary hunger (41 percent from 46 percent), and reducing poverty (24 percent from 29 percent).
Pulse Asia said the Marcos government also earned its highest disapproval rating of 73 percent on the issue of controlling inflation, up from 56 percent in September.
The government also earned a negative net approval rating (percent of approval minus percent of disapproval rating) on four issues, namely, controlling inflation with -64; addressing poverty with -15, fighting graft and corruption with -3 and increasing the pay of workers with -2.
The administration also earned its highest net approval rating of +74, +72 and +50 on the issues of protecting the welfare of OFWs, helping calamity-stricken areas, and protecting the environment, respectively.
CONTROLLING INFLATION
A big majority of Filipinos (72 percent) said controlling inflation is the most urgent national concern that should be addressed by the government, followed by increasing the pay of workers (40 percent), creating jobs (28 percent), and reducing poverty (25 percent).
The four concerns were the same top four concerns raised by the respondents last September.
The other national concerns include fighting corruption (19 percent), helping farmers (18 percent), addressing the problem of involuntary hunger (18 percent), fighting criminality (15 percent) providing support to small entrepreneurs to restore their businesses (11 percent), enforcing the rule of law (10 percent), and reducing the amount of taxes paid by citizens (10 percent).
Other concerns include promoting peace (9 percent), protecting the environment (7 percent), defending national territorial integrity (6 percent), dealing with terrorism (5 percent), and protecting overseas Filipino workers (5 percent).
Controlling inflation was the top concern across geographical locations (69 percent to 75 percent) and among different socio-economic statuses (61 percent to 81 percent).
