By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Four years before the next presidential elections, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, who both made history as the first majority-elected candidates in a multiparty contest, have now suffered a drastic drop in their public approval and trust ratings.
This was revealed on Wednesday (3 April 2024) by the first quarter survey of Publicus Asia’s Pahayag 2024 which attributed the duo’s ratings plummeting to the public’s growing concerns regarding issues such as inflation, corruption and perceived weak leadership.
Marcos Jr. and VP Sara’s approval ratings dropped to their lowest levels since the third quarter of 2022 — from 58 percent for the fourth quarter of 2023 to 44 percent for the first quarter of 2024 for the President and from 59 percent to 53 percent for the vice president.
PBBM notably lost points even in his bailiwick of North-Central Luzon, where his approval rating dropped from 62 percent to 52 percent. In South Luzon, his approval rating dropped from 55 percent to 43 percent, and in the Visayas, from 57 percent to 40 percent.
On the other hand, VP Sara’s rating fall was most notable in South Luzon, from 51 percent to 40 percent; North-Central Luzon, from 56 percent to 47 percent; and the National Capital Region (NCR), from 52 percent to 47 percent.
The NCR recorded the highest disapproval for Duterte at 34 percent.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez’s approval rating also dived from 36 percent to 25 percent, the poll showed.
It can be noted that Mindanao recorded the highest disapproval rating at 39 percent, closely followed by the Visayas at 37 percent, where Romualdez represents Leyte’s first district.
Romualdez is widely believed to be the most likely “anointed one” by his cousin PBBM for the 2028 presidential race.
Some Visayan political leaders are backing Romualdez to be the country’s first Waray-Waray president.
(el Amigo/MNM)
