President Marcos’ approval rating “recovered slightly,” while Vice President Sara Duterte’s score continued to fall in the year-end survey conducted by Publicus Asia.

The survey, which was fielded from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 with 1,500 respondents, found that the President’s approval rating improved from 55 percent in the third quarter to 58 percent in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Vice President Duterte’s approval rating fell from 62 to 59 percent.

“President Marcos Jr.’s approval rating slightly recovers, driven by [increases in] NCL (North-Central Luzon), SL (South Luzon), and Visayas, but Vice President Duterte’s continue to slip, albeit not as significant,” Publicus Asia said in its report released on Friday, Dec. 15.

It also noted that Speaker Martin Romualdez’s approval rating “stabilized,” but still showing a downtrend—from 37 to 36 percent, while Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo sustained his ratings—from 36 to 37 percent.

Publicus Asia said the only “full recovery” was seen in Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri’s approval rating, which was “back to similar levels prior to the dip.”

His rating increased from 43 to 47 percent, owing to higher ratings from South Luzon.

‘Similar trend’ seen in trust ratings

Publicus Asia also found that the country’s top five officials’ trust scores were consistent with their approval ratings.

“There is a reversal/flat trend for President Marcos and Zubiri, downtrend/flat for Vice President Duterte, steady for Gesmundo, while Romualdez continues to plunge as low/no trust increase,” it said.

The trust ratings of President Marcos and Zubiri rose slightly from 47 to 48 percent and from 33 to 35 percent, respectively.

“The significant gain for President Marcos among the middle income softened the downtrend impact of the other two income groups,” Publicus Asia pointed out.

However, for Vice President Duterte, there was a significant drop in trust among non-OFW families, high income, and senior citizens drive overall downtrend.

The Vice President’s overall trust rating fell from 55 to 53 percent in the latest survey.

“For Zubiri, not one single segment stands out in contributing for the reversal/flat trend, while Gesmundo’s flat to slightly downtrend is influenced by the significant drops among high income and government workers,” Publicus Asia said.

Gesmundo’s overall trust rating remained statistically unchanged, at 29 percent to 28 percent.

Meanwhile, the survey found that Speaker Romualdez’s overall trust rating dropped from 29 to 25 percent.

“Romualdez takes the most hit as significant declines among the 40s, high income, non-OFW families, and college graduates pull down overall trust significantly by four percentage points—the lowest since 2022,” Publicus Asia said.

Performance rating of Marcos admin recovers in Q4

Publicus Asia’s survey also revealed that the overall performance rating of the Marcos administration witnessed a notable recovery, surging from 53 percent in the third quarter to 61 percent in the fourth quarter.

“This positive trend was notably driven by increased ratings in North-Central Luzon, from 53 percent to 64 percent; South Luzon, from 45 percent to 57 percent; and the Visayas from 53 percent to 63 percent,” it said.