President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte lead the Basic Education Report 2024 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on January 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suffered a double-digit slide in his approval rating, while Vice President Sara Duterte’s score inched up in a Pulse Asia survey released Wednesday.

Of 2,400 Filipinos polled in late March, 25 percent said they approved of Marcos’ performance. This was 17 points lower than his 42 percent approval score in February.

The latest survey also showed that 53 percent disapproved of his performance, while 25 percent were undecided.

Meanwhile, Duterte was “the only top official” who experienced an improvement in her performance ratings, which rose to 59 percent in March from 52 percent in February, Pulse Asia noted.

Her disapproval rating declined to 16 percent from 26 percent over the same period, the pollster said.

Screenshot from Pulse Asia's findings in its March 2025 Ulat ng Bayan survey 

Meanwhile, Senate President Francis Escudero's approval figure declined by 8 points to 39 percent. His disapproval rating was up 6 points at 18 percent.

House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s approval rating “remains unchanged” at 14 percent. However, his disapproval rating climbed to 54 percent in March, up by 14 points from February.

TRUST RATING 

Out of the four officials, only Duterte received a majority trust rating in March, with 61 percent of Filipinos expressing trust in her, Pulse noted.

Fifty-four percent expressed distrust toward Marcos, the pollster said.

Forty-one percent remained “ambivalent” about Escudero’s trustworthiness, while 57 percent distrusted Romualdez, the survey showed. 

PUBLIC CONCERNS 

The same poll found that out of 16 national concerns, controlling inflation was the top issue for 7 in 10 Filipinos. Sixty-nine percent saw inflation as a national issue requiring immediate government action, Pulse noted.

It said other pressing concerns cited by Filipinos included the following. 

• • Increasing workers’ pay (36 percent)
• • Combating graft and corruption (28 percent)
• • Fighting criminality (28 percent)
• • Reducing poverty (27 percent)

When asked to rate government performance on these issues, “pluralities to majorities disapprove of the administration’s efforts” to control inflation (79 percent), fight graft and corruption (53 percent), reduce poverty (48 percent), increase workers’ pay (48 percent). 

Majority approval ratings of 51 percent were given for the administration’s efforts to protect the welfare of OFWs and respond to the needs of calamity-affected areas.