By Joyce Pangco Pańares and Sandy Araneta
SENATOR Francis Escudero is the top choice of voters for vice president in the 2016 polls, results of the second The Standard Poll showed.
The survey, conducted by resident pollster Junie Laylo from Sept. 21 to Oct. 1, had 1,500 respondents, all of whom are registered voters with biometrics from 76 provinces across the country and the 17 cities in the National Capital Region.
Respondents were asked to choose from seven possible candidates—Escudero; Senators Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Alan Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV; Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte; Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo; and former Senator Panfilo Lacson.
During the survey period, Marcos had not yet announced his vice presidential bid while Duterte and Lacson had yet to decide on their political plans for 2016.
Senator Gregorio Honasan, the running mate of Vice President Jejomar Binay, was also not included in the survey as there was no indication he was going to run during the survey period.
Escudero got a plurality of 40 percent, followed by Marcos (15 percent), Duterte (15 percent), Cayetano (11 percent), Trillanes (7 percent), Robredo (7 percent), and Lacson (5 percent).
Escudero led the survey across all geographic areas, including the Southern Luzon/Bicol region where he had his highest rating of 46 percent.
In the same area, Marcos had a higher rating of 13 percent than other candidates who hail from the Bicol region, namely Cayetano and Robredo at 11 percent each and Trillanes at 4 percent.
Respondents were also asked who they would vote for if their candidate of choice backs out from the vice presidential race. Most respondents who did not pick Escudero as their first choice said they would vote for Escudero under those conditions.
With Duterte out of the vice presidential race, Escudero will gain five points. Marcos, Cayetano, Trillanes and Robredo will gain two points each while Lacson will see his rating go up by a point.
Escudero, Marcos, Duterte, Trillanes and Robredo will gain a point each with Lacson out of the equation.
Lacson has already declared he will seek reelection as a senator instead.
The Palace on Tuesday welcomed the result of The Standard Poll, saying it showed an increase in the ratings of the Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II.
Roxas placed second with a rating of 19 percent, behind Senator Grace Poe who had a plurality of 32 percent.
“The latest in-house survey of The Standard provides insights on public sentiment towards presidential candidates. This survey indicates the positive effect of the President’s endorsement on the ratings of [former Interior] Secretary Mar Roxas, which rose to 19 percent from eight percent in the previous Standard survey held last May,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said.
Respondents were asked to choose from eight possible presidential candidates—Poe, Roxas, Binay, Duterte, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, Marcos, Senator Miriam Santiago, and former senator Richard Gordon.
Binay slid down to third place with 14 percent, followed by Duterte (10 percent), Estrada (9 percent), Marcos (7 percent), Santiago (6 percent), and Gordon (1 percent).
The Standard Poll has error margins of +/- 2.6 percent for the national results and +/- 6 percent for the regional results. All regions were represented in the survey.
Laylo, The Standard’s in-house pollster, has 25 years of experience in political polling and strategic research.