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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Binay bounces back in Pulse Asia survey

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VICE President Jejomar Binay has regained the lead in Pulse Asia’s survey of voter preferences for the 2016 presidential elections, getting the nod from 33 percent of the respondents, the polling company said  Tuesday.

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Grace Poe were statistically tied for second place, with 23 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

In third place was Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II, with 17 percent.

Pulse Asia Research’s Ulat ng Bayan Survey for December 2015 was  conducted from Dec. 4 to 11, with 1,800 respondents nationwide. The survey has a margin of error of  ± 2 percent on the national level, ± 6 percent for Metro Manila, ±3 percent for the rest of Luzon and ±5 percent for each of Visayas and Mindanao.

Other presidential candidates,  including Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago,  garnered at most 4 percent.

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Pulse Asia said only 1 percent of registered voters were either or inclined to support any of the candidates included in the survey or did not know who they would vote for as president in May 2016.

In terms of geographic areas, Duterte had a clear lead over the other candidates in Mindanao, with a strong 43 percent.

In Metro Manila, Binay (30 percent), Duterte (27 percent), and Poe (21 percent) shared the top spot.

In the rest of Luzon, Binay (34 percent) and Poe (29 percent) were the leading bets.

In the Visayas, the top choices were Binay (34 percent) and Roxas (27 percent).

Binay also led among poorer voters, garnering 30 percent from Class D and 42 percent from Class E respondents.

The top candidates in Class A, B and C were Duterte (28 percent), Roxas (22 percent), Binay (20 percent) and Poe (19 percent).

The top candidate for vice president was Senator Francis Escudero (29 percent), with Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. landing in second place (23 percent).

Pulse Asia said only two other vice presidential bets scored double-digit voter preferences.

Sharing third place were Senator Alan Peter Cayetano (18 percent) and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni G. Robredo (14 percent).

Only 1 percent of registered voters said they do not support any of the vice presidential candidates or did not know who they would vote for next year.

Metro Manilans and those in the rest of Luzon were most supportive of Escudero (30 percent and 33 percent, respectively) and Marcos (28 percent and 26 percent, respectively).

In the Visayas, the leading vice presidential candidates were Escudero (27 percent), Robredo (21 percent), and Cayetano (18 percent).

Those in Mindanao were most inclined to elect Cayetano (27 percent), Escudero (21 percent), and Marcos (19 percent) as the country’s next vice president.

In Class AB and C, the top choices for vice president were Escudero (26 percent), Marcos (20 percent), Robredo (18 percent), Cayetano (17 percent), and Senator Gregorio B. Honasan II (11 percent).

Those in Class D are most likely to vote for Escudero (29 percent) while those in Class E are most supportive of the vice presidential bids of Escudero and Marcos (29 percent and 20 percent, respectively).

Filipinos are naming an average of nine of their preferred candidates for senator, with most of them already having a complete slate for the Senate (55 percent).

Only 13 of the 89 senatorial candidates in the survey have a statistical chance of winning in the May 2016 elections, Pulse Asia said.

With about five months to go before the next national elections, registered voters are identifying a mean of nine and a median of 12 (out of a maximum of 12) of their favored candidates for senator.

Overall, 55 percent of registered voters already have a complete slate for the senatorial race.

Practically all of the probable winners were either current or former members of Congress, with former Justice secretary Leila M. de Lima being the only exception.

Enjoying solo first place was Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, who had an overall voter preference of 67.9 percent.

Five bets shared second place—Senator Ralph G. Recto (58.9 percent), former senator Panfilo M. Lacson (58.5 percent), former senator Richard J. Gordon (57.0 percent), former senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri (55.9 percent), and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon (55.1 percent).

Completing the list of probable winners were former senator Francis N. Pangilinan (54.5 percent, 2nd to 8th places), Senator Sergio D. Osmeña III (49.8 percent, 7th to 9th places), De Lima (46.8 percent, 8th to 9th places), Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquaio (40.0 percent, 10th to 13th places), Senator Teofisto D. Guingona III (38.6 percent, 10th to 13th places), Valenzuela City Representative Sherwin T. Gatchalian (36.0 percent, 10th to 13th places), and former Akbayan Party-List Representative Risa N. Hontiveros (35.7 percent, 10th to 13th places).

Only 1.1 percent of Filipino registered voters were not inclined to vote for any of the candidates included in this senatorial electoral probe while less than 1 percent either do not know whom to vote for as senator (0.9 percent) or refuse to identify their preferred senatorial candidates (0.3 percent).

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a text message to Palace reporters, said, “Public opinion surveys serve to heighten the citizens’ awareness of the candidates that would hopefully lead to greater interest beyond personalities and into platforms of governance.”

Binay said he was thankful for the latest findings of the Pulse Asia survey.

“Surveys, as I often tell my supporters, are snapshots of our people’s sentiment at a given time,” Binay said. “The true survey is on Election Day.”

His spokesman, Joey Salgado, said the survey results encouraged Binay to double his efforts to inform the people of his plans to improve their lives and to solve poverty, unemployment and other social ills.

Poe, on the other hand, attributed the drop in her ranking to the disqualification cases filed against her, which she said has created confusion among voters.

Poe said she remained confident that she would hurdle the cases against her and prove that she is qualified to run for president.

“I respect the results of the most recent Pulse Asia survey. I will continue to use the surveys as guide to work harder, reach out to more people, and get across my platform of governance, where no one is left behind,” Poe said.

Her running mate, Escudero, agreed that the disqualification cases had taken a toll on her standing, but said she would recover once the Supreme Court rules in her favor.

“It cannot be denied that the two disqualificafion orders from the Comelec First and Comelec Second Division have affected the results,” said Escudero.

Regardless of the survey results, Escudero vowed that he and Poe would continue going around the country to bring their message to the people—their plaform and dreams for the Philippines.

Poe spokesman Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the survey would serve as a roadmap to their next moves.

“Clearly, we have to amplify our message that Senator Poe is still a candidate in the running for the presidency,” he said.

In addition to this, Gatchalian said they have to focus in their message of inclusive growth, improving competitiveness and good governance.

Roxas said he remained hopeful that he would soon take the lead in the presidential polls as the election draws near, and said the race for the country’s highest elective position was still “any man’s game.”

“We can see that it’s still erratic. Just last month, it’s Grace [Poe] who led. The other week, it was Digong [Duterte]. And now, it’s [VP Jejomar] Binay. Maybe in the next survey, we’ll take lead,” Roxas said in a statement.

“What’s important to us is that our record is clean, our platforms are clear. We have a strong evidence to prove the benefits of the straight path. We will continue to work,” Roxas said. With Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and John Paolo Bencito

 

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