By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – Sen. Grace Poe remained the most preferred candidate among the five presidential bets in the 2016 national elections, the latest Pulse Asia survey said on Friday.
In the ABS-CBN Channel 2 sponsored survey conducted from March 15 to 20, Poe maintained her lead with 28 percent, two percent higher than her previous survey result.
“Nearly 3 in 10 Filipino registered voters would elect Senator Grace Poe as the country’s next president if the May 2016 elections took place during the survey period,” said Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes in a statement.
In a statistical tie at second and third place are Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) standard bearer Rodrigo Duterte and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) Jejomar Binay, who had 24 and 23 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet Manuel Roxas II is at fourth place with 19 percent, a two percent decline from his previous numbers and senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is at fifth place with two percent. Four percent remain undecided.
In terms of geographical area, Roxas was chosen by 37 percent of Visayas’ voters, followed by Poe, Duterte, Binay, and Santiago.
In the National Capital Region, Poe (31 percent) and Duterte (30 percent) were statistically tied for the top spot.
However, Poe was the clear winner in the rest of Luzon claiming 35 percent, while Duterte led Mindanao with 43 percent.
In the vice presidential race, Poe’s running mate Francis Escudero and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. are tied for first place with 25 percent each.
LP’s Leni Robredo is at third place with 21 percent, followed by senator Alan Peter Cayetano (14 percent), senator Gregorio Honasan (five percent) and senator Antonio Trillanes IV (four percent).
In the senate race, Sen. Vicente Sotto III (Nationalist People’s Coalition) grabbed the solo lead, followed by Sen. Franklin Drilon (LP), Francis Pangilinan (LP), former senator Panfilo Lacson (LP,) and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Also in the Magic 12 are Richard Gordon, Rep. Manny Pacquiao (UNA), former representative Risa Hontiveros (LP), Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, former secretary Joel Villanueva (LP), former Justice secretary Leila De Lima (LP) and Sen. Ralph Recto (LP).
The survey was conducted among 4,000 respondents who were registered voters 18 years old and above. /PN