Senator Grace Poe would top the Senate race if the mid-term elections were held today, the latest Pulse Asia survey showed Wednesday.
In its survey of the 2019 senatorial candidates, Pulse Asia said the senator placed first with the backing of 75 percent of respondents.
Incumbent Senator Cynthia Villar ranked second with 66.6 percent.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara and Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, meanwhile, shared third to fourth spot with 58.5 percent and 55. 4 percent, respectively.
Former Senator Lito Lapid (49.8 percent) and Senators Nancy Binay (46.7 percent) and Aquilino Pimentel III (45.55 percent) were statistically tied for the fifth to seventh spot.
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Former Senator Sergio Osmena (38.8 percent) made it to the 8th to 13th spot, while former senator Ramon Revilla Jr. (37.6 percent) made it to the 8th to 14th spot.
Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos (36.7 percent), former senator Jinggoy Estrada (36.3 percent), and former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa (35.7 percent) were also tied in the 8th to 15th spot.
Among President Rodrigo Duterte’s senatorial candidates, only Dela Rosa made it in the so-called “Magic 12.”
Former top aide Christopher Go and political adviser Francis Tolentino struggled to get into the winners’ circle, even with endorsements from the President.
Former Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II (35.0 percent), JV Ejercito (33.6 percent) and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV (32.6 percent) completed the top 12.
“This will serve both as an inspiration and challenge to continue working hard, grateful to the people for giving us the chance to help make lives a little better,” the frontrunner Poe said in a statement.
The survey, conducted from Dec. 14 to 21, interviewed 1,800 respondents, asking them to choose from showcards with the names of 70 senatorial candidates.
Pulse Asia noted that only 43 percent of respondents had prepared their own complete slate of 12 candidates.
Respondents named an average of nine and a median of 10 senatorial candidates.
The latest survey has an error margin of ± 2.3 percent.
READ: Comelec trims senatorial bets, party-list groups in ‘19 polls
