SENATOR Grace Poe pulled ahead of Vice President Jejomar Binay in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey of voter preferences for the next president.
In its second quarter survey, Poe was chosen the best by 42 percent of the respondents as the best candidate to succeed President Benigno Aquino III when he steps down next year.
Binay slid to second place in the survey with 34 percent, while the presumptive presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II came in third with 21 percent.
Poe and Binay were also no. 1 and no. 2 respectively in the most recent Pulse Asia survey.
In the SWS survey, other candidates mentioned by the respondents and their respective showings were Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, 20 percent; ousted President and current Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and former senator Panfilo Lacson, with 7 percent each; Senator Francis Escudero and Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, with 4 percent; Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 3 percent; Senator Allan Peter Cayetano, 2 percent; former House Speaker Manny Villar, 1 percent; (unspecified) Binay, 1 percent; Senator Loren Legarda, 1 percent; and Senator Antonio Trillanes, 1 percent.
Some 9 percent of the respondents had no answer, while 5 percent said they didn’t know or refused to answer.
The June 2015 SWS survey was conducted from June 5 to 8, 2015 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (sampling error margins of 3 percent for national percentages, and 6 percent each in the regions).
Amid the flurry of new opinion poll findings, the Palace said Friday the President would endorse the presidential candidate who would be able to continue the reforms he started.
“Surveys are always part of your changing political landscape, as we mentioned. But, more importantly, the primary concern really for the President is who has the integrity, who has the character to be able to continue the reforms that the President has started,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.
In the same survey, the public satisfaction rating of the President went up 10 percentage points since March, but most of the gains did not come from Metro Manila but from Mindanao, the rest of Luzon and the Visayas.
Aquino’s net satisfaction rating went up from +11 in March 2015, to +30 in June 2015.
Public satisfaction with Aquino as of June 5 to 8 was highest in Mindanao, at a “good” +39 marking a 14-point gain from the “moderate” +25 Aquino got in March.
Aquino’s lowest rating came from Metro Manila at a “neutral” +8, which hardly moved from the +7 last March.
His net satisfaction rating improved two grades to a “good” +30 from the “neutral” -3 two months ago, while it remained at “good” in the Visayas—rising to +35 from +30.
The SWS terminology for Net Satisfaction Ratings are as follows: +70 and above, “excellent”; +50 to +69, “very good”; +30 to +49, “good”; +10 to +29, “moderate”, +9 to -9, “neutral”; -10 to -29, “poor”; -30 to -49, “bad”; -50 to -69, “very bad”; -70 and below, “execrable.”
SWS considers the movement from one classification to another as either an “upgrade” or “downgrade.”
Aquino’s net satisfaction rating rose two grades in Class ABC to a “good” +44 (64 percent satisfied, 20 percent dissatisfied), or a huge 38 points from the “neutral” +6 (41 percent satisfied, 35 percent dissatisfied) in March.
Aquino’s rating in Class E went up a grade to a “good” +34 (58 percent satisfied, 23 percent dissatisfied), 16 points higher than the “moderate” +18 (49 percent satisfied, 32 percent dissatisfied) in March.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the most recent survey results showed the President was far from being a lame duck, as some critics have claimed.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the President was gratified that Filipinos recognized the efforts ot the administration to improve the delivery of public services and to implement reforms.