n By Maricel V. Cruz
If senatorial elections were held today, former President Rodrigo Duterte would top the race if he were a candidate – as indicated in a survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia, which released the results this week.
In a statement, the polling firm said its Pahayag Quarter 1 2023 voting disposition survey contained 34 names and showed that the former President got 55 percent of respondents to top the would-be Senate list.
The list is also composed of reelectionists, new names, and “balik Senado” (returning senators). The next senatorial elections are in year 2025.
Duterte, who stepped down as President in May last year, received high support from Mindanao (66%) and among 30 to 39-year-olds (68%).
Dr. Willie Ong, a candidate for vice president in 2022 and the Senate in 2019, was second among respondents at 49%. He was preferred by 58% of Metro Manila voters and was the choice of voters from 40 to 49 years.
Would-be reelectionists Christopher “Bong” Go and Maria Imelda “Imee” Marcos are statistically tied at 42% and 41%, respectively. Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso (36 percent), Vicente “Tito” Sotto (36 percent), and Panfilo “Ping” Lacson (35 percent) rounded out the Top 7 in the survey.
The next five are Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, tied at 30%, Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo at 28%, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno at 27%, and Harry Roque at 26%.
The Pahayag First Quarter is an independent and non-commissioned survey conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. It is a nationwide purposive sampling survey comprised of 1,500 respondents randomly drawn from the market research panel of over 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of PureSpectrum, a US-based panel marketplace with multinational presence.
The sample was restricted to registered Filipino voters. Samples provided by PureSpectrum are not affiliated with any bias or political party, the firm said in a statement.
