If elections were held today, presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be the runaway winner, the latest survey from Pulse Asia Research says.
The survey, conducted from Feb. 18 to 23, showed Marcos was still the top choice or respondents with a 60 percent voter preference, with a 45 percent margin over his closest rival, Leni Robredo, at 15 percent.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Majority Leader and Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) President Martin G. Romualdez said the newest Pulse Asia results presaged a landslide victory for Marcos and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
“Our candidates have maintained their high marks, less than two months before the May elections. Despite such survey showings, they will keep on campaigning and spreading their message of hope, patriotism, and unity,” Romualdez said.
He said Pulse Asia’s February survey “validates the wide support that Marcos and Duterte enjoy.
“Our candidates will try their best to improve or at least sustain their survey showing in the remaining days of the campaign,” Romualdez, who has been accompanying the UniTeam tandem around the country, said.
In the vice presidential race, Duterte improved her voter preference by three points, from 50 percent in January to 53 percent in February, while her closest rival, Senate President Vicente Sotto lll, slipped by five points, from 29 percent to 24 percent.
Among other presidential candidates, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso had 10 percent, Senator Manny Pacquiao had 8 percent and Senator Panfilo Lacson had 2 percent.
The Pulse Asia survey also showed Marcos’ continued dominance in all major voting areas.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), he posted a 66 percent voter preference, a jump of 9 percentage points from 57 percent in January of this year.
Marcos’ voter preference of 68 percent in Mindanao also showed a 2 percentage point increase, up from 66 percent in January 2022.
The Pulse Asia survey results also confirmed that the “Solid North” voting bloc remains united behind the presidential bid of Marcos.
With less than two months before the 2022 national elections, most of Marcos’ opponents were still having a hard time finding a message that would resonate with voters, Pulse Asia said.
In the Senate race, broadcaster Raffy Tulfo topped the senatorial preferences in the same Pulse Asia survey with 66.9 percent.
He was followed by Antique Rep. Loren Legarda with 58.9 percent, former Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar with 56.2 percent,
Taguig lawmaker Alan Peter Cayetano with 55.0 percent, Senator Miguel Zubiri with 50.5 percent, and Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero with 49.8 percent.
The Pulse Asia poll used face-to-face interviews on 2,400 respondents aged 18 years old and above, who are registered voters and likely to vote in the May 2022 elections.
The Pulse Asia survey has a ± 2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
The spokesman for Robredo, Barry Gutierrez said the survey, conducted in February, does not factor in the snowballing of support for Robredo, who has been drawing record-breaking crowds at her rallies from Butuan to Bacolod, Cavite to Isabela, Sampaloc to Malolos.
The latest Pulse Asia survey, he said, does not yet capture the most recent surge in support for Robredo.
For Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel, the latest survey does not show the current preferred presidential candidates of the public.
“The Pulse Asia data does not show the current pulse of the public because it has been more than one month since the survey was conducted,” he said in a statement.
Ramel said internal numbers received by the party greatly differ from the survey, adding that Marcos’ numbers are going down while Moreno’s are going up.
“The internal numbers we receive that are closer to the current situation greatly differ if compared against the Pulse Asia survey,” he said.