PUBLiCUS: High expectations for Marcos Jr. during first 100 days

MANILA – The latest PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. survey showed that incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is facing high expectations to do well during his first 100 days in office.

In a 2022 PAHAYAG Second Quarter Survey (2022 PQ2) conducted from June 16 to 22, 68 percent of respondents stated that they expect Marcos Jr. to perform “well” or “very well” during his first 100 days as president.

At least 14 percent indicated they expect him to do “poorly” or “very poorly,” while 11 percent responded that they expect the incoming president to perform “neither poorly nor well” and 7 percent were unsure.

“Our survey suggests that roughly two out of three Filipinos expect President Bongbong Marcos to perform well during the first 100 days of his presidency. President Marcos Jr. will have to hit the ground running from Day One to live up to these high expectations,” said Atty. Aureli Sinsuat, executive director of PUBLiCUS, in a news release on Wednesday.

Respondents also listed the economy, jobs, and education as the top three issues Marcos should prioritize.

“Economic development, job creation, and education reform are not issues that can be completely addressed over the course of 100 days. However, public perception on the Marcos Jr. administration could be expected to remain relatively positive if these top-of-mind issues are prioritized by the incoming president and his team during their first few months in office,” Sinsuat said.

Sinsuat also stated that the continuation of five landmark Duterte administration programs received overwhelming support from survey respondents.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they approve of the continuation of “Build, Build, Build”, the highest approval rating registered among the 14 issues tested on the survey.

Some 73 percent said they support the continuation of the “war on illegal drugs”, while 68 percent support the continuation of “independent foreign policy”.

Based on the survey, 64 percent of respondents said they support the continuation of the “BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) transition” while continuation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) earned an approval rating of 56 percent.

“Considering President Duterte’s enduring popularity, it is not surprising that a significant majority of respondents support the continuation of his flagship programs,” Sinsuat said.

“While the level of policy continuity between the outgoing and incoming administrations remains to be seen, it is reasonable to believe that public opinion on the Marcos Jr. administration will be influenced, at least in part, by its ability to continue and improve upon at least some of the Duterte administration’s more popular flagship programs,” Sinsuat added.

PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with multinational presence, randomly selected 1,500 registered Filipino voters to participate in the 2022 PAHAYAG Second Quarter Survey from their national panel of more than 200,000 Filipinos.

The sample-wide margin of error is +/- 3 percent.