Marcos Jr. and Duterte still leading in Pulse Asia poll

MANILA, Philippines — Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and his running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, would have been named president and vice president if the elections were held last month, according to results of the latest Pulse Asia survey.

In the Pulso ng Bayan Survey conducted from Jan. 19 to 24, the standard-bearer of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas received the majority of votes for President at 60 percent. Among geographic areas, Marcos Jr. was highest in Mindanao at 66 percent. He got the most number of votes among Class D income class.

He was trailed by Vice President Leni Robredo at 16 percent, followed by Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso (both at 8 percent) and Sen. Panfilo Lacson at 4 percent.

3% still undecided

Other presidential candidates included in the poll were Faisal Mangondato (0.3 percent), former presidential spokesperson Ernie Abella (0.05 percent) and labor leader Leody de Guzman (0.02 percent). Aspirants Norberto Gonzales and Jose Montemayor Jr. both got zero votes.

The remaining 3 percent who were still undecided refused to name their candidate or were not inclined to vote for any presidential candidate.

Pulse Asia asked 2,400 adult respondents the question: “Of the people on this list, whom would you vote for as President of the Philippines if the May 2022 elections were held today and they were the candidates?”

Using face-to-face interviews, the survey had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.

Twenty-four percent of voters picked Domagoso as their second choice should their original preferred candidate withdraw from the elections. Next were Lacson and Pacquiao, both at 14 percent, followed by Robredo at 13 percent and Marcos at 10 percent.

Mayor Duterte, meanwhile, led the race for the vice presidential post at 50 percent. Across areas, she got a landslide vote of 84 percent in Mindanao but failed to get a majority vote in the Visayas, Metro Manila, and Luzon outside the capital region.

Duterte was followed by Senate President Tito Sotto at 29 percent. Sen. Kiko Pangilinan (11 percent), physician Willie Ong (5 percent), and House Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza (1 percent) trailed behind.

Sotto was the leading second-choice candidate for vice president at 35 percent, Pulse Asia said.

A little over half, or 53 percent, of the respondents have a complete slate of 12 senatorial candidates, according to the pollster.

Those who made it to the top 12 among senatorial candidates were Raffy Tulfo, Alan Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Mark Villar, Migz Zubiri, Win Gatchalian, Jojo Binay, Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, Risa Hontiveros and Robin Padilla, who is virtually tied with JV Ejercito.

Pulse Asia also found that the majority of the likely voters or 62 percent have “heard, read and/or watched something about the party-list system.”

Meanwhile, 17.5 of respondents did not have a preferred party-list group.

—INQUIRER RESEARCH

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