Public satisfaction with the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has plummeted to its lowest level since he took office in 2022, marking the weakest performance score for any Philippine government in 16 years, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The First Quarter 2026 SWS poll, conducted from March 24 to 31, revealed that the administration’s net satisfaction rating plunged to a “poor” -13. This represents a steep 27-point drop from the “moderate” +14 score recorded in November 2025.
According to the data, 46 percent of adult Filipinos expressed dissatisfaction with the national government’s overall performance, while 32 percent were satisfied. The remaining 21 percent of respondents were undecided.
“This is a record-low for the Marcos Jr. administration, and the lowest in 16 years since the bad -45 in March 2010 under the Arroyo administration,” SWS said in its report released on Friday, June 19.
Despite the sharp downturn in overall public perception, the government managed to maintain positive scores across several specific sectors.
Out of 19 governance issues evaluated, the administration performed best in upgrading the quality of children’s education, securing a “very good” net rating of +52. It also achieved “good” ratings for supporting the poor (+45), housing programs for low-income families (+45), job creation (+42), science and technology development (+40), and boosting food security (+32).
Moderate satisfaction scores were recorded for territorial defense in the West Philippine Sea (+27), transparency in government projects (+26), public truthfulness (+24), public transportation efficiency (+24), protecting overseas workers in the Middle East (+21), and general hunger mitigation (+12).
However, heavy dissatisfaction in key economic sectors dragged down the administration’s overall grade.
The lowest individual scores were driven by the government’s handling of inflation (-15), the failure to prevent oil companies from taking advantage of fuel prices (-12), and efforts to eradicate state graft and corruption (-10).
Furthermore, the public gave neutral marks regarding the prosecution of tax evaders (net zero), tax collection improvements (-4), addressing high oil prices (-5), and general crime-fighting initiatives (-7).
The First Quarter 2026 Social Weather Survey relied on face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult respondents across the country. It has a national sampling error margin of ±3 percentage points.