Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio widened her lead over other possible presidential candidates in the 2022 elections.
In the latest Pulse Asia survey, the presidential daughter emerged as the top choice if the May 2022 presidential elections were held today at 27 percent.
Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. placed second with 13 percent, followed by Senator Grace Poe and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso with 12 percent each and Senator Manny Pacquiao with 11 percent. The four of them, however, are statistically tied.
The non-commissioned survey, conducted on February 22 to March 3, 2021 with 2,400 respondents aged 18 years old and above, has a +/- 2 percent error margin.
Duterte-Carpio got the majority of support from Visayas and Mindanao with 21 and 60 percent, respectively.
At sixth place was Vice President Leni Robredo (7 percent), followed by Sen. Christopher Go (5 percent), former Vice President Jejomar Binay (3 percent), Sen. Panfilo Lacson (2 percent), Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (2 percent) and Sen. Richard Gordon (1 percent).
President Rodrigo Duterte himself rejected calls for his daughter to seek the presidency, saying it is not a woman’s job.
Duterte-Carpio said she will only consider gunning for the highest position in 2034 and only “if at that time, there is something I can do to help the country.”
The President hinted that Go will be the administration’s standard bearer for the 2022 elections.
Go, however, earlier assured the public he was not gunning for a higher position in next year’s polls as he would rather focus first on the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Please count me out po. Don’t include me when it comes to talks about the elections,” Go said in a television interview in February.