MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Senators Francis "Chiz" Escudero and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr are tied for top rank in the latest Pulse Asia Research, Incorporated survey released on Friday, April 1.
The two senators each obtained 25% voter preference rating in the ABS CBN-commissioned nationwide survey conducted from March 15 to 20 among 4,000 registered voters.
Escudero's rating is 1-percentage point higher over his numbers in the last survey held from March 8 to 13, while Marcos' rating was unchanged.
Administration candidate Leni Robredo gained 1 percentage point, pushing up her preference rating to 21% – nearly statistically tying the two leading candidates for first place.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano scored 14%, a 1-percentage point improvement.
Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan II, the United Nationalist Alliance bet, had an unchanged preference rating of 5%, while Senator Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV lost 2 percentage points with a 4%-rating.
Barely two months before the May 9 elections, 5% of voters remained undecided on their choice for vice president.
Top choice by region, socioeconomic class
Marcos is the top choice in Metro Manila, with a preference rating of 41%, a 6-percentage point surge over his rating in the last poll conducted from March 8 to 13.
Robredo is the favored candidate in the Visayas with 34%, unchanged from the earlier survey, while Cayetano gained 4 percentage points in Mindanao with a rating of 28%, keeping him in the lead in that region.
Marcos and Escudero are the most preferred vice presidential candidates in the rest of Luzon with ratings of 32% and 29%, respectively. Marcos' rating is up by 3 percentage points, while Escudero gained 1 percentage point.
The two senators are also the most favored in the well-off Class ABC: Marcos obtained a rating of 35%, 4 percentage points higher than his previous number; Escudero got 23%, up by 6 percentage points.
They are also the top choice in Class D: Marcos' rating was at 27% and Escudero at 25% – both unchanged from the last survey.
Those in the poorest Class E are most supportive of Escudero (25%, up by 2 percentage points) and Robredo (23%).
Escudero is top 'back-up' candidate
Escudero remained the top second choice for vice president, should the primary candidate of voters back out of the race.
The survey results showed that 26% would instead Escudero, followed by Marcos and Cayetano, 16% and 15%, respectively; and Robredo, 12%.
Holmes said 19% or almost two in 10 registered voters do not have any back-up vice presidential candidate.
The nationwide survey, conducted among 4,000 registered voters, has a ±1.5% error margin at the 95% confidence level.
Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95% confidence level: ±4.6% for Metro Manila, ±2.3% for the rest of Luzon and ±3.4% for Visayas and ±3.3 for Mindanao.
Among the major issues during the survey period, conducted a week after the Supreme Court voted to allow Poe to run, were the joint motion for reconsideration seeking to disqualify Poe, and UNA's defense of Binay following an Anti-Money Laundering Council report that he allegedly received billions of pesos from infrastructure projects while he was Makati mayor.
The Senate also began its probe into the $81-million Bangladesh bank heist during the survey period.
Robredo said in a statement that she is pleased with the latest survey results as this showed that her message is reaching more people. She added that this would fuel her resolve to campaign even harder. – Rappler.com