Marcos, Duterte see double-digit drop in approval and trust ratings in September

MANILA, Philippines — The extent to which Filipinos still trust and approve of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte has declined by double digits from June to September, the latest Pulse Asia survey found, 

While the two top officials still retain the majority approval and trust of Filipinos, the latest survey by Pulse Asia done mid-September shows that both leaders lost some level of support across all regions and classes after enjoying minimal changes in their ratings in the same poll conducted in March. 

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted from September 10 to 15, when budget debates triggered public clamor for transparency in government agencies' use and requests for confidential funds. The largest chunk of this in the proposed 2024 budget will go to the Office of the President (P4.5 billion), while P650 million was set to go to Duterte before lawmakers vowed to realign the secret fund.

The slump in Marcos and Duterte's trust and approval scores also comes “amid uncontrollable inflation,” political science professor Cleve Arguelles said.

“Bagong Pilipinas appears to be taking a hit,” Arguelles added.

Similarly, political science professor Arj Aguirre said that the drop in Marcos and Duterte's rating is "significant since it is beyond the margin of error."

The survey was also conducted during a time when hot-button issues affecting Marcos and Duterte dominated headlines and gripped public attention: among others, surging inflation and the perceived misuse of public funds through the confidential and intelligence funds, Aguirre added.

"It only means that there is a substantial portion of the population nowadays that have become dissatisfied with Marcos Jr and VP Sara in terms of doing something to curb the ill effects of inflation to ordinary citizens and in terms also of using a staggering amount of money through CIF, respectively," Aguirre said.

Approval ratings for Marcos decreased by 15 percentage points nationwide, going from 80% to 65%. Across all regions, declines in the president’s performance rating ranged from 14 to 15 percentage points.

Marcos is the only top official in the survey who suffered a double-digit