DESPITE a concerted Palace-backed campaign against him, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shared the No. 1 spot with Senator Francis Escudero in the vice presidential race, a new Pulse Asia survey said.
The ABS-CBN-commissioned survey conducted from Feb. 16 to 27, showed Marcos and Escudero both garnered 26 percent from 5,200 respondents aged 18 years and above with biometrics.
The survey was conducted exactly two months before the May elections or during the week of the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution, in which President Benigno Aquino III urged people not to vote for Marcos because of the abuses committed during martial law, which was declared by his father.
Aquino also demanded that Marcos acknowledge the sins of his father’s martial law regime.
Escudero was tied with Marcos following a 3-percent drop from this 29 percent showing during the survey period of Feb. 15 to 20.
Marcos’ 26 percent rating remained unchanged from the same survey.
In a news briefing at Hacienda Inn in Candelaria, Quezon, Escudero said they will continue to go around the country to convey their platform of government to the Filipino electorate.
“With regards to being statistically tied, how does it differ from being tied? Being tied or statistically tied are just the same. I am just a son of an employee of his father,” said Escudero, referring to his father who served as Agriculture minister under then President Marcos.
In the Pulse survey, Marcos and Escudero were followed by Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo at 18 percent, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano at 13 percent, Senator Gregorio Honasan II at 6 percent and Senator Antonio Trillanes at 5 percent.
In a statement, Marcos said while he is thankful for the positive response he has been getting, he remains focused on his getting message of national unity across the country.
“We are happy with the way things are going for us but our focus is really on the campaign and getting more people to hear what we have to say and our plans for the country. Hopefully more people get to accept our message of national unity,” said Marcos.
Presidential aspirants Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay were statistically tied for first place, the Pulse survey said.
Virtually the same percentages of Filipino registered voters would elect either Poe (26 percent) or Binay (24 percent) as president if the May 2016 elections were held during the survey period.
Close behind them were Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (22 percent) and administration candidate Manuel Roxas II (19 percent).
Metro Manilans were most supportive of Poe (30 percent), Binay (26 percent), and Duterte (25 percent).
In the rest of Luzon, the top presidential contenders were Poe and Binay (32 percent and 30 percent, respectively).
Roxas was the first choice for president of Visayan registered voters (33 percent) while Duterte was the top pick for Mindanao (47 percent).
The leading candidates in Class ABC are Duterte (27 percent), Poe (21 percent), Binay (21 percent), and Roxas (17 percent).
In Class D, Poe and Binay posted the highest voter preferences (26 percent and 24 percent, respectively) and in Class E, Poe (27 percent), Binay (23 percent), and Roxas (23 percent) posted the highest figures.
