Vice President Sara Duterte continues to hold the approval and trust of a slim majority of Filipinos, while President Marcos remains well below that mark, according to Pulse Asia’s September 2026 Ulat ng Bayan survey.
The face-to-face survey ran Sept. 17 to 24 among 2,400 adults, with a margin of error of ±2 percentage points. It is a separate release from the 2028 election-preference results published earlier from the same fieldwork. This one measures performance and trust.
VP Sara: 54% approve of her performance, down 2 points from July. Disapproval is 27% (down from 29%) and 18% are undecided. Trust is 55%, down 3 points from 58%, with 27% distrusting her and 19% undecided.
President Marcos: 30% approve (up 1 point), 49% disapprove, and 21% are undecided. 29% trust him, 48% distrust him, and 22% are undecided.
Pulse Asia described the changes between July and September as virtually unchanged overall. Most of the movement was within the margin of error, and the pollster noted the only significant shift in Duterte’s trust ratings was a 5-point drop among Class D respondents. A “slim” majority still backs the Vice President, the survey said, and “near majorities” are critical of the President.
The survey was taken while the Senate impeachment trial of the Vice President was ongoing, and before the prosecution dropped three of the four articles on Oct. 13. It does not measure whether the trial itself changed opinions.
Ratings on their own do not decide the trial. The Senate will judge the remaining article on unexplained wealth on the evidence presented, not on survey numbers. But they remain a snapshot of the public mood as the 2028 race takes shape.
