Vice President Jejomar Binay (left) and Sen. Grace Poe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
After Sen. Grace Poe topped recent presidential surveys, a political analyst on Friday said the battle was far from over for long-time poll frontrunner Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Prof. Antonio Contreras of De La Salle University said a lot of things could still happen less than a year before the upcoming presidential elections in 2016.
“I’m not yet calling the game over para sa president and vice president, hindi pa tapos ang laban,” Contreras said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM.
“Binay is a master strategist in this thing so hindi natin alam kung ano ang magagawa pa. Ang maganda dito nakikita mo kung saan ka mahina, so I think Binay has a lot of recovering to do,” he added.
In the latest Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations surveys of potential presidential candidates, Poe emerged as the top pick of respondents, eclipsing Binay whose voter preference went down by seven percentage points from 29 percent in March.
READ: Grace Poe now leads presidential survey; Binay falls to 2nd | Poe zooms past Binay | SWS: Grace Poe tops Binay as most preferred Aquino successor
However, Contreras said Binay could look into the changing sentiments of the voting population across economic classes and use it to his advantage.
In the Pulse Asia survey released on Thursday, Contreras noted how voter preference for Binay in class E went down by seven notches to 26 percent from 33 percent in March. Interestingly, the Vice President registered 29 percent among ABC classes, a seven-percent increase from his 22 percent in March.
“Medyo interesting kasi doon sa masa bumaba ang number ni Binay. Nalagasan ’yung bilang niya sa sarili niyang balwarte, pero umakyat naman siya sa ABC,” he said.
Contreras said the shift may be attributed to varying media exposure of upper and lower classes: “Ito namang [class] D and E ito naman yung parte ng population na inaalod sa mga soap opera at nakikita natin na lumabas naman ‘yung drama ng candidature ni Grace sa isyu ng kanyang pagkatao, sa pagka-ampon.”
The Pulse Asia poll was conducted in the middle of the Senate probe on corruption allegations against Binay and residency and foundling issues raised by Binay’s camp against Poe.
Poe, who has not yet expressed her intention to run for a higher office in 2016, also topped Pulse Asia’s survey of possible vice presidential bets.
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