INCUMBENT and reelectionist senators continue to top the senatorial race, according to The Standard Poll’s resident pollster, Junie Laylo, in a survey conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 4, 2016.
Senator Vicente Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition ranked first in the survey with 54 percent of all survey respondents saying they would vote for him. Behind him are Senate President Franklin Drilon with 43 percent and Senator Ralph Recto, both from the Liberal Party, with 43 and 42 percent, respectively.
Former Senators Francisco Pangilinan of the Liberal Party and Panfilo Lacson, an independent candidate, placed fourth and fifth, with 41 and 40 percent share of respondents nationwide, respectively.
The Standard Poll conducted surveys among 3,000 respondents across the country, with 300 from the National Capital region, 700 from Northern and Central Luzon, 600 from South Luzon and Bicol, 700 in the Visayas and 700 from Mindanao.
All respondents were biometrically registered voters and said they are certain to vote in the May 2016 elections.
Other names that emerged in the Top 10 were that of Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (36 percent), Leila de Lima (35 percent), Sherwin Gatchalian and Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso (both 35 percent), and Juan Miguel Zubiri (34 percent).
For the senatorial race, 65 percent of those polled nationwide said they “will definitely no longer change” their preferences while 35 percent said they “may still change.”
Asked which candidate they would never vote for, respondents nationwide cited Ina Amboldito (39 percent), Rafael Alunan III (38 percent), Godofredo Arquiza (35 percent), Tonyboy Aquino (35 percent) and Levito Baligod (33 percent), among others.
The Standard Poll has a margin of error of +/-1.8 percent nationwide.