With only two weeks to go before the elections, mayoralty candidate Joy Belmonte has cemented a strong lead in Quezon City in the most recent non-commissioned survey among local voters.
The three-term vice mayor garnered 63 percent in voter preference, while rivals Rep. Vincent Crisologo and Ismael “Chuck” Mathay III trail with 32 percent and three percent, respectively, in the poll conducted by iSurvey, an independent research and data analytics company.
The city-wide survey was conducted between April 19 to 25 with 15,000 registered voters 18 years and older from across all districts of Quezon City.
Belmonte is also the preferred candidate in the May 13 elections based on the latest survey released by the RP-Mission and Development Foundation Inc.
Dubbed the “Halalan 2019 NCR Survey,” RPMDinc’s tally saw Belmonte garner 62 percent of the votes compared to the 36 percent and one percent obtained, respectively, by Crisologo and former lawmaker Chuck Mathay. The non-commissioned survey was conducted last April 1 to 8.
The iSurvey poll was “conducted amidst a background of contrasting platforms from the two main candidates.”
Poll leader Belmonte is campaigning on a “progressive platform” centered on providing affordable housing to informal settler families, improving benefits for health and education in the city, providing social services for all, and ensuring peace and order.
Meanwhile, Crisologo has focused on allocating a big portion of Quezon City’s budget to social services. The incumbent 1st District Congressman has also been campaigning to remove tax discounts given to senior citizens, solo parents, and people with disabilities to uniformly tax all sectors in the city.
For the vice mayor position, Councilor Gian Sotto, Belmonte’s running mate, has a commanding lead with 44 percent over his rival Joseph Sison, who garnered 30 percent. Councilor Roderick Paulate, Mathay’s running mate, received 19 percent.
In the city’s congressional race, five candidates under Belmonte’s Serbisyo sa Bayan team are incumbents and are “sure winners” come the midterm polls, the RPMDinc survey noted. They are Bong Suntay (District 4), Alfred Vargas (District 5), Precious Hipolito-Castelo (District 2), Allan Reyes (District 3) and Kit Belmonte (District 6).
Most incumbent city councilors under Belmonte’s party are also leading in the same survey.
Belmonte’s trust rating is also high at 95 percent, while Crisologo’s is only at 20 percent. RPMDinc said it means the 62 percent of the Belmonte “votes” is considered as “solid voters” and will not change, while the 36 percent for Crisologo is considered as “soft votes” and will change at any given time because of his low trust rating.
The survey also revealed that voters will not gamble their votes on candidates “whose character are highly questionable.”