Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. again topped Pulse Asia’s latest survey on preferred presidential candidates in the May 9 elections, the pollster said Sunday.
According to the survey conducted last Jan. 19 to 24, Marcos is the first choice among presidential aspirants, with 60 percent of respondents saying they would vote for the son and namesake of the late President “if the May 2022 elections were held today.”
Vice President Leni Robredo came in second with 16 percent. Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso each had 8 percent of respondents’ support, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson had 4 percent.
Labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman got 0.02 percent, while Ernie Abella got 0.05 percent and Faisal Mangondato 0.3 percent.
The nationwide survey had 2,400 respondents aged 18 and above, with a ± 2% error margin at the 95% confidence level, Pulse Asia said.
Analysts have said election surveys are mere “snapshots of the moment” and do not necessarily predict the outcome of the polls.
Meanwhile, 50 percent of the respondents said they will vote for Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for vice president.
Senator Vicente Sotto III came in second with 29 percent, followed by Senator Francis Pangilinan with 11 percent.
Dr. Willie Ong followed with 5 percent, Deputy House Speaker Lito Atienza with 1 percent, and former lawmaker Walden Bello with 0.02 percent.
Pulse Asia said it asked respondents in its latest survey to pick a second choice in case their initial bet ends up not pursuing his or her presidential bid.
The survey showed 24 percent of respondents will choose Domagoso should their original choice for president withdraw from the election.
Lacson and Pacquiao followed with 14 percent each, Robredo with 13 percent, and Marcos with 10 percent.In the vice-presidential race, Sotto is the top second-choice candidate with 35 percent of respondents saying they will vote for him should their original candidate back out of the elections.
The latest Pulse Asia survey showed that Marcos enjoys the support of the majority across all geographic locations, as well as across socioeconomic classes CDE.
In the Dec. 1-6 survey of Pulse Asia, Marcos got 53 percent of support, followed by Robredo at 20 percent.
For the vice presidency, Duterte-Carpio is the most preferred aspirant in Visayas (47 percent), Mindanao (84 percent), and across socio-economic classes CDE.
Sotto ruled in the Balance Luzon (37 percent) and in the National Capital Region (36 percent).
Meanwhile, the BBM-Sara UniTeam has assured its solid support for Quezon City mayoralty aspirant Anakalusugan Partylist Rep. Mike Defensor and his running-mate Winnie Castelo in the coming May 2022 elections.
In a statement, lawyer Vic Rodriguez, chief of staff and spokesperson of presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., said that Bongbong and Inday Sara will be joined by tens of thousands of supporters from Team Defensor in the UniTeam rally on Monday, Valentine’s Day.
The event will be held at the Amoranto Sports Complex in Quezon City, where BBM and the UniTeam senatoriables will discuss their platforms on how a unifying governance under Bongbong hopes to thread out of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Rodriguez also rebuffed attempts by some groups to drive a wedge between the UniTeam and Team Defensor by spreading the fake news that their opponents are also being supported by the BBM-Sara tandem.
He also qualified that the Amoranto event will be used as a platform by Bongbong and Sara to declare their unqualified support to Team Defensor while also calling on their supporters to hold fast on their commitment to a unified and healing leadership.
For his part. Defensor thanked the UniTeam’s unequivocal support and assured that they will return it in the form of excellent public service for the residents of Quezon City.
Political analysts said the UniTeam’s endorsement for local bets would merit a 70% influence among Quezon City electorate, which could be the telling difference in the outcome of the city’s elections.
Last December, the BBM-Sara UniTeam launched its caravan in Quezon City that drew thousands of supporters.
With thousands of adoring supporters lining up in the streets, the caravan that started from Commonwealth Avenue in front of the Commission on Audit office to the Welcome Rotonda in the boundary of Quezon City and Manila took more than five hours to complete.
In recent survey results conducted by The Issues and Advocacy Center, Defensor got 53 % votes compared to the 39 % of incumbent Mayor Joy Belmonte.
The survey was conducted from January 10-16 from 1,200 respondents.
Like the Defensor-Castello tandem, the BBM-Sara UniTeam also dominates in all reputable survey firms all over the country.
Vote-rich Quezon City and Manila are the only cities in the Philippines who have over one million total voters each.