MANY Filipinos do not think it is essential to vote for a tandem in the presidential and vice presidential race on May 9, The Standard Poll conducted from Feb. 24 to March 1 showed.
At least 64 percent of the 3,000 respondents—all of them registered voters with biometrics and who were sure to vote in the May 9 elections—said their choices for the top two positions was not influenced by tandems.
This sentiment was highest in the National Capital Region (74 percent) followed by North/Central Luzon (71 percent), South Luzon/Bicol (62 percent), Mindanao (60 percent) and the Visayas (59 percent).
Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. emerged as the top choice of the Filipinos who said they would vote for presidential bets Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (29 percent) and Vice President Jejomar Binay (37 percent).
Marcos was tied with Senator Francis Escudero among the respondents who said they would vote for Senator Miriam Santiago with 39 percent each.
Escudero led the other vice presidential bets among Poe’s supporters with 46 percent while Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo was the top choice of those who will vote for administration standard bearer Manuel Roxas II with 50 percent.
Duterte’s running mate, Senator Alan Cayetano, trailed Marcos among the supporters of the Davao mayor with 23 percent, while Binay’s running mate, Senator Gringo Honasan, only received nine percent among the respondents who said they would vote for the vice president.
Meanwhile, a clear plurality of the respondents said People Power did not affect their lives at all, with only 18 percent of them saying their lot improved because of the bloodless revolution that toppled the Marcos administration in 1986.
At least 46 percent said People Power did not have any impact on them while nine percent said their life was now worse because of it.
The pro-People Power sentiment was highest in the Visayas (22 percent) followed by the National Capital Region (20 percent), Mindanao (19 percent), South Luzon/Bicol (18 percent) and North/Central Luzon (13 percent).
On the other hand, at least one in 10 respondents from Metro Manila, North/Central Luzon and Mindanao said their quality of life deteriorated after the 1986 revolution.
The survey also showed that the Filipinos who believed that the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was a good president (22 percent) outnumbered those who said he was a bad leader (nine percent)—even as 70 percent of the respondents said they were either neutral or undecided on the issue.
The support for the Marcos patriarch was highest in North/Central Luzon (35 percent) followed by the National Capital Region (26 percent) and South Luzon/Bicol (21 percent).
The anti-Marcos sentiment was highest in Mindanao (11 percent) and the Visayas (10 percent).
The survey was conducted by The Standard’s resident pollster Junie Laylo, and it covered 79 provinces and 40 highly urbanized cities across the country and the 17 cities in the National Capital Region.