The administration’s quarterly report card

Last Wednesday, Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported: “Net satisfaction with the national administration rises to +1 in June 2026 from -13 in March 2026” (www.sws.org.ph, 8/12/26). The net -13 in March was the second negative rating of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration, the first one being a net -3 in September 2025. The new +1 last June is a split opinion; but it is a significant recovery.

Location and education matter. The net +1 split opinion in the whole nation reflects clashes of opinions across geographical areas: net -17 in Mindanao, -11 in the National Capital Region, +5 in Visayas, and +13 in Balance Luzon. This pattern has been steady for four quarters now. Since each area has its own random sample, by design, this is the cross section to which I pay the most attention.

There is also a steady disagreement among educational groups—for instance, net -10 among college graduates versus net +18 among elementary dropouts. Those with higher schooling, and presumably more knowledgeable, are almost always more critical of an administration’s performance. This pattern has also been steady over four quarters. See the report on the SWS website to verify my details, since newspapers lack space for them.

Article continues after this advertisement

Consider the full history. The SWS national survey regularly asks about satisfaction—not “approval”—with the general performance of the national administration. This was twice a year in the time of President Corazon Aquino, and then quarterly from the time of President Fidel Ramos. Each new report updates the chart of findings since 1986; it clearly shows an initial “honeymoon,” which we define as an unbroken sequence of net +30 (“Good”) or more.

To assess a current rating, I recommend comparing it to the recorded history of past ratings. Comparison with other researchers’ ratings should take account of variations in question phrasings, particularly in Filipino.

An administration’s report card has many subjects. After asking about satisfaction with the administration in general, the SWS survey proceeds to ask about satisfaction with the administration’s performance on certain specific subjects; it does this in random order, by writing the subjects on separate cards and then shuffling them. The June survey had 17 subjects; each subject got its own satisfaction rating or grade, and together they make up the administration’s report card, together with its general grade for reference. Just bear in mind that the general grade is NOT AN AVERAGE computed from the grades of individual subjects; all the grades, specific and general, come directly from the random sample of respondents.

Listed in order of net satisfaction, the subjects ranged from “providing basic education in public elementary and high schools” (net +68 in June 2026) to “eradicating graft and corruption in government” (net -14). SWS graded four subjects as Very Good (net +50 to +69): five were Good (net +30 to +49), three were Moderate (+10 to +29), three were Neutral (-9 to +9) and two were Poor (net -29 to -10).

Article continues after this advertisement

Do focus on the lowest grades first. The two worst grades, in June 2026, are the net -14 of “eradicating graft and corruption” and the net -12 of “fighting inflation.” A double-digit negative is statistically higher than zero; it is a definite failure, hence the term Poor. June 2026 is a noteworthy instance when corruption has upstaged inflation as an issue of administration failure. In the past four quarters, the sequence of grades on corruption has been 0, -15, -10, and -14, whereas the sequence of grades on inflation has been –9, -16, -15, and -12; it is clear that curing corruption is now the people’s top priority.

Single-digit net ratings, though not conclusively either positive or negative, certainly bear watching, too. In June 2026, these were the grades of “generating solutions for the rising oil prices” (net zero), “ensuring that oil companies do not take advantage of oil prices” (net -6), and “fighting crimes that victimize ordinary citizens” (net -8).

Do administration report cards have bearings for elections? Maybe, maybe not. The way to find out is to check the surveys of report cards, preelection voting preferences, and election-day voting, take the election results, and crunch the numbers.

Article continues after this advertisement

—————-

mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.