SWS: Satisfaction with President Marcos lowest in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines — In a span of just one year, satisfaction with President Marcos among those in Mindanao has shifted from being highest to the lowest in the country, surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Although a majority of Filipinos still approve of Marcos’ performance almost two years into his presidency, results of the Dec. 8 to 11 survey conducted by SWS showed a declining satisfaction with the Chief Executive, especially among respondents in the bailiwick of his predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In the latest survey, only 61 percent of respondents from Mindanao said they were satisfied with the performance of Marcos, down from the 78 percent he obtained in the December 2022 survey.

Meanwhile, respondents from Mindanao who were dissatisfied with the President increased from just six percent in December 2022 to 23 percent in December 2023.

This gave the President a net satisfaction rating of “good” +38 among respondents in Mindanao, down from the “excellent” +72 he obtained in the area a year prior.

The net satisfaction rating is obtained by subtracting those who said they were dissatisfied from those who were satisfied with the performance of the government official. 

The SWS classifies net satisfaction ratings of at least +70 as excellent; +50 to +69 as very good; +30 to +49 as good; +10 to +29 as moderate; +9 to -9 as neutral; -10 to -29 as poor; -30 to -49 as bad; -50 to -69 as very bad and -70 and below as execrable.

Marcos obtained higher net satisfaction in other areas, although these were also lower than his performance in his first few months in office.

Comparing December 2022 and December 2023, net satisfaction with the President went down from +65 (73 percent satisfied, nine percent dissatisfied) to +44 (66 percent satisfied, 21 percent dissatisfied) in Metro Manila; from +68 (74 percent satisfied, six percent dissatisfied) to +52 (66 percent satisfied, 14 percent dissatisfied) in the rest of Luzon and from +67 (74 percent satisfied, seven percent dissatisfied) to +51 (69 percent satisfied, 18 percent dissatisfied) in the Visayas.

As reported earlier, nationwide satisfaction with the President dropped from a “very good” +68 (75 percent satisfied, seven percent satisfied) in December 2022 to a “good” +47 (65 percent satisfied, 18 percent dissatisfied) in December 2023.

The latest net satisfaction rating of Marcos was slightly up from the good +44 (65 percent satisfied, 21 percent dissatisfied) in the September 2023 survey.

The SWS’ fourth quarter survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus 2.8 percent for national percentages and plus/minus 5.7 percent for each of the geographic areas.

The latest survey was conducted before Duterte’s public tirades against his successor.