PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Senator Grace Poe enjoyed a slight lead over Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the May 2016 presidential race, according to the results of the latest Pulse Asia Research Inc. survey held in the first week of March.
A total of 28 percent of those polled express support for the presidential bid of Poe, and close behind her was Duterte at 24 percent.
Sharing third place were Vice President Jejomar Binay (21 percent) and former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II (20 percent).
Meanwhile, three percent of those polled backed the candidacy of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo welcomed the continuing climb in her ratings.
“I’m happy that my numbers jumped high. We were praying that my numbers would rise, but I didn’t expect that it would jump high,” Robredo said.
The camp of Roxas said the erratic numbers in the surveys were a reminder that “it’s still anyone’s ball game.”
“Well, it confirms that this is still a very close, four-way race. With 55 days to go till the elections, it is still anybody’s elections,” Roxas’ spokesman Rep. Barry Gutierrez said in a statement.
Non-support for any presidential candidate was expressed by five percent of the registered voters.
Poe was the top choice for president in the rest of Luzon (36 percent) while Roxas led in the Visayas (37 percent).
The Mindanaoans were most supportive of the presidential bid of Duterte (47 percent).
In Metro Manila, the top picks for president were Poe (30 percent), Duterte (23 percent) and Binay (23 percent).
Statistically tied for the top spot in the vice presidential race were Senators Francis Escudero and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Escudero led the other vice presidential candidates with respect to second-choice voter preferences. Sandy Araneta and John Paolo Bencito
While 25 percent of the registered voters would elect Escudero as vice president if the May 2016 elections were held during the survey period, 22 percent would support Marcos.
Landing in second place was Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo (21 percent) while Senator Alan Peter Cayetano occupied third place (14 percent).