Grace Poe now leads presidential survey; Binay falls to 2nd

Vice President Jejomar Binay (left) and Senator Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Senator Grace Poe has topped a survey of potential presidential candidates in 2016, overtaking her close rival, Vice President Jejomar Binay, a Pulse Asia poll, which was released Thursday, showed. In the survey conducted from May 30 to June 5, Poe was chosen by 30 percent of the 1, 200 respondents nationwide while Binay only had 22 percent.

This is the first time Poe has topped the Presidential survey, though she has not yet announced her intention to run for President or any of her plans for 2016.

It was a big jump of 16 percentage points for Poe, who registered 14 percent in the March 2015 presidential preference survey of Pulse Asia. Binay fell by seven percentage points.

READ: Binay still leads Pulse Asia presidential poll; Duterte enters top 5

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte came in third with 15 percent. Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas III, the presumptive standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party, was tied for fourth with former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada as they registered 10 percent each.

READ: Duterte: I might run for president if I beat VP Binay in surveys

They are followed by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (6 percent), Senator Alan Peter Cayetano (2 percent) and former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson (2 percent).

The survey was conducted at a period when major news items included the meeting between Poe and President Benigno Aquino III purportedly to discuss her plans for 2016; the residency and foundling issues raised by Binay’s allies against Poe; the continuation of the Senate probe on the corruption allegations against Binay; and the last-minute reprieve given by the Indonesian government to Mary Jane Veloso.

READ: Residency issue even helps Grace Poe—election expert

The poll said that Poe leads Binay in the National Capital Region (32 percent versus 22 percent); Balanced Luzon (36 percent versus 22 percent); and Visayas (30 percent versus 26 percent). Binay continues to rule in Mindanao (18 percent to 15 percent).

Poe also got the highest rating in all socioeconomic classes except for Class E, majority of which continue to support Binay.

The senator got 31 percent among the ABC classes while Binay had 29%.

She registered 31 percent among class D respondents compared to the 20 percent of Binay.

Binay, however, had a slight advantage among class E respondents or the poorest class with 26 percent while Poe had 25 percent.

Poe leads VP preference survey, too

In the same Pulse Asia survey, Poe topped the voters’ preference poll for potential vice presidential candidates with 41 percent, while her good friend Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero had 12 percent.

Cayetano was in third place with 12 percent, while Duterte and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos were tied in fourth with nine percent. Lacson was fifth with six percent. IDL