The popularity rating game

Net satisfaction in President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos (PBBM) turned slightly positive in June, from being slightly negative, for the first time in his term, the previous April—see “Second Quarter 2025 Social Weather Survey: Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s net satisfaction rating rises to +10 in June 2025 from -10 in April 2025” (www.sws.org.ph, 9/30/25), which has all the numbers cited here.

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll asking for public satisfaction with an official uses the phrase “nasisiyahan sa paggawa ng kanyang tungkulin” (satisfied with the performance in her or his function), with answer-choices of very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. The net score is the sum of the favorable, minus the sum of the unfavorable, answers.

Net +10 is the lower end of the 20-point band that SWS calls “moderate,” and -10 is the upper end of the 20-point band called “poor.” Any single-digit score is “neutral,” whether positive or negative, since it’s statistically similar to zero. Thus, PBBM got one “poor” grade on his scoresheet before the middle of his term, and recovered from it quickly.

The history of satisfaction ratings. For comparison, the lowest net satisfaction score of former President Corazon Aquino was +7, in November 1990 and April 1992. Former President Fidel Ramos had a +1 in October 1995 and a +2 in December 1995. Former President Joseph Estrada had a +5 in December 1999 and March 2000, and a +9 in December 2000. Those three presidents never scored negatively in the SWS surveys. (In the case of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., I recall a net satisfaction score of +15 in 1985, by an SWS-precursor. I know nothing for any earlier president.)

Our singularly unpopular president was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had her first negative score in November 2003, at -3. Her next negative score was a -6 in October 2004; it was never positive again, up to June 2010. Her net satisfaction quarterly averages in each year were: -25 in 2005, -16 in 2006, -9 in 2007, -33 in 2008, -35 in 2009, and -7 in 2010. The SWS term is “bad” for scores of -30 to -49; it is “very bad” for -50 to -69, which happened to her twice, the worst being a -53 in March 2010.

On the other hand, the lowest net satisfaction score of Benigno Aquino III was +11 (March 2015), while the lowest score of Rodrigo Duterte was +48 (September 2017). It is noteworthy that Duterte was personally very popular, while at the same time his (a) deadly and indiscriminate “war on drugs” and (b) friendly attitude towards China were very unpopular.

The average net satisfaction scores for the aggregate of SWS surveys under the past presidents are: Corazon Aquino +35, Ramos +38, Estrada +33, Arroyo -7, Aquino III +45, and Duterte +62. The running average for Marcos Jr. is a “good” +32, as of June 2025.

“Trust ratings” are different. An SWS trust rating uses the word pagtitiwala (trust), and pertains to an individual simply as a person, not as a functionary responsible for doing something for the Filipino people. A trust rating, rather than a satisfaction rating, is appropriate for checking the popularity of foreign officials, the Pope, businessmen, entertainment personalities, and the like.

But SWS does obtain trust ratings of politicians, from time to time, upon request. For instance, in the media release, “SWS confirms the June 2025 survey items sponsored by the Stratbase Group on public trust in the Philippines’ top officials” (www.sws.org.ph, 7/15/25) one can find the following:

This shows that public trust in PBBM as a person also rebounded from May to June, like his net satisfaction score. However, it appears that public trust in him (as well as in his cousin Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez) is not as adequate as trust in Vice President Sara Duterte and Sen. Francis Escudero. I wonder if this is worrisome to some politicians.

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Contact: mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.