MANILA, Philippines (Updated) – Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s numbers improved while survey leader Vice President Jejomar Binay’s slightly dropped in a February 5-7 survey, which put the Davao mayor in 2nd place with Senator Grace Poe.
Poe’s numbers remained flat at 24%. Duterte also got 24%, but this was a significant 4-percentage points increase from his 20% in a January 2016 survey, according to the Business World- Social Weather Stations (BW-SWS) survey on February 5-7 conducted among 1,200 validated voters.
The latest survey shows that Binay is just 5 points ahead of Duterte and Poe, BW-SWS said. Binay was 31% in the January 2016 BW-SWS survey, up from his 26% rating in December 2015. (READ: Binay, Escudero lead 2016 race – SWS)
The survey's 3-percentage-points error margin, however, puts Binay, Poe, and Duterte in a possible statistical tie. It puts Binay's numbers from 26% to 32% and Poe and Duterte's numbers from 21% to 27%.
Administration candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II dropped to 4th place, getting the approval of 18% of the respondents from 21% in January. The 3-percentage-points decline is significant considering the survey's error margin.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago received a mere 4%.
The survey was conducted while the Supreme Court continued to hear oral arguments on the disqualification case filed against Poe and after Duterte campaigned hard in Metro Manila and Luzon provinces.
The question asked respondents was the same in December last year and in January, according to BW-SWS: “Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino po ang malamang ninyong iboboto bilang presidente, bise-presidente, at mga senador, ng Pilipinas? Narito ang listahan ng mga kandidato.” (If the election were held now, who will you likely vote as president, vice-president, and senators of the Philippines? Here is the list of the candidates.)
The results were first published in BusinesWorld early Monday, February 15.– Rappler.com