Vice President Sara Duterte still holds the highest approval and trust ratings among leading government officials. At the same time, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Speaker Martin Romualdez are the least trusted among the country’s top officials, Pulse Asia said on Wednesday.

Based on Pulse Asia's June 2024 Ulat ng Bayan national survey, Vice President Sara Duterte's approval ratings increased by two percentage points from 67 percent in March to 69 percent in June.

Duterte's trust ratings remained the same at 71 percent for May and June after resigning from her post at the Marcos Cabinet as Department of Education Secretary.

Among the economic brackets, Duterte's approval rating increased by 17 percentage points in Class E, from 65 percent to 82 percent.

However, her approval rating among Class ABC declined by six percentage points to 57 percent from 63 percent. In Class D, her rating increased slightly by one percentage point to 69 percent.

Duterte maintained the same trust rating at 71 percent. She was statistically tied with Senate President Chiz Escudero, who held 69 percent. Meanwhile, Marcos and Romualdez received ratings of 52 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

“Both the Vice-President and the Senate President have majority trust ratings in each geographic area (56 percent to 95 percent and 64 percent to 75 percent, respectively) and socio-economic class (59 percent to 80 percent and 63 percent to 74 percent, respectively),” Pulse Asia noted in its report.

Marcos approval, trust rating

Meanwhile, Marcos had a 53 percent approval rating for his performance, a two-point decrease from his 55 percent rating in March.

His trust ratings also dropped by 5 percent, falling from 57 percent in March to 52 percent in June.

The same survey results showed that Marcos’ distrust rating has risen to 21 percent, up from 15 percent in March, marking a six-point increase.

While he still has 58 percent of the trust in Balance Luzon (areas outside Metro Manila), his ratings declined by 9 points from his March score of 67 percent.

Similarly, his trust ratings in Mindanao dropped by 3 percent to 35 percent in June from 38% in March.

The Chief Executive's trust ratings remained steady in Visayas at 54 percent and obtained the highest trust score in Metro Manila at 59 percent, a 4-percentage point increase over his March score of 55 percent. 

Romualdez's distrust rating, in general, remained statistically unchanged, moving only slightly from 24 percent to 23 percent.

“Regarding distrust, it is more pronounced toward the President and the House Speaker (...) than the Senate President and the Vice-President (5 percent and 8 percent, respectively),” Pulse Asia said.

Romualdez lowest

Pulse Asia said Romualdez scored the lowest ratings in performance and trust, with his performance approval and trust ratings being a mere 35 percent in June.

Geographically speaking, the Visayas had Romualdez's highest trust rating at 57 percent, up 30 points from 27 percent in March.

The House Speaker's trust ratings declined in Balance Luzon to 31 percent from 36 percent.

However, his trust scores rose in Metro Manila to 37 percent from 33 percent and in Mindanao to 24 percent from 21 percent.

The lowest Class E had the highest level of trust in Romualdez among all socioeconomic classes, at 40 percent, which is 18 percentage points higher than the 22 percent recorded in March.

Romualdez's approval rating likewise increased in Visayas by 26 percentage points from 33 percent in March to 59 percent in June.

His approval rating in Visayas increased by 26 percentage points from 33 in March to 59 in June. His rating in Metro Manila saw a minor increase of 2 percentage points from 34 percent in March to 36 percent in June.

Romualdez' approval rating in Balance Luzon slightly declined by three percentage points to 29 percent in June from 32 percent in March, while he maintained the rating in Mindanao at 25 percent.

The survey involved 2,400 respondents aged 18 and older and was conducted through face-to-face interviews. Subnational estimates for each geographic area included in the survey have a margin of error of ± 4% at a 95% confidence level.