30-07-2025
Philippine President Marcos' trust, performance ratings up; VP Sara Duterte's decline — survey
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. - Photo: Inquirer files
MANILA: The trust and performance ratings of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. improved while Vice President Sara Duterte's saw a decline for the second quarter of 2025, according to a non-commissioned survey conducted by Octa Research in early July.
In its Tugon ng Masa conducted from July 12 to 17, Octa Research said that Marcos' trust ratings were at 64 percent, a four-point increase from 60 percent.
His performance rating saw a three-point increase to 62 percent, which still fell within the survey's margin of error.
Octa Research said that Marcos held the highest trust and performance ratings in the second quarter of 2025 among all top officials surveyed, including Vice President Sara Duterte, Senate President Francis Escudero, and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez.
'These gains in trust and performance ratings represent an apparent reversal of the downward trend observed since the fourth quarter of 2024. They underscore a renewed confidence in the President's leadership,' the polling firm noted.
Meanwhile, the survey showed that Duterte's trust rating fell from 58 percent to 54 percent, while her performance rating dipped by six points from 56 percent to 50 percent.
The polling firm said that the declines in Duterte's trust and performance ratings 'were broad-based, affecting most major regions and socioeconomic classes, with particularly steep drops recorded in NCR [National Capital Region] and Balance Luzon.'
Despite this, the firm noted that both Marcos and Duterte 'continue to enjoy majority backing' as their trust and approval ratings remained above the 50 percent mark.
The second quarter survey is a contrast to the survey released by the polling firm last April 2025 where Marcos' trust and performance ratings declined both by five points while Duterte's increased by nine and eight points, respectively.
Escudero, Romualdez ratings
Escudero's trust and performance ratings also dropped by both four points to 51 percent and 49 percent at the national level, respectively.
However, the survey showed that Escudero got notable support from Mindanao where his trust rating increased by 11 percent and performance rating at 17 percent.
The firm noted that this is 'the most significant regional gain recorded for any top official in a quarter.'
On the other hand, the survey said that Romualdez is one of the two top officials, along with Marcos, who saw improvements in trust and performance ratings.
Romualdez' trust rating rose from 54 percent to 57 percent while his performance rating increased by four points to 59 percent.
The firm said that Romualdez' improvements 'are particularly significant as they were broad-based, with gains recorded across all major regions and socioeconomic classes.'
The survey used face-to-face interviews among 1,200 respondents aged 18 and above. It had a margin of error of ±3 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
