Poe leads Pulse Asia poll; Roxas, Binay, Duterte ‘tied’ in 2nd place

Sen. Grace Poe. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Grace Poe is still the leading presidential candidate for the 2016 elections, the results of pollster Pulse Asia’s “Ulat ng Bayan” survey showed.

Poe leads the survey with 26 percent of the respondents choosing her as the successor of President Benigno Aquino III. The second place is shared by three probable presidential candidates: administration bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas II (20 percent), Vice President Jejomar Binay (19 percent) and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (16 percent).

The survey results also showed that each island group in the country has its own preferred presidential bet: Senator Grace Poe is the leading choice of respondents from Metro Manila (26 percent) and Luzon (31 percent); Roxas leads in his hometown Visayas (34 percent); while Duterte is the top choice for Mindanaoans (29 percent).

At 22 percent, Poe is also the most preferred presidential aspirant across socio-economic classes, followed by Roxas, Duterte then Binay.

Others included in the survey were Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Miriam Defensor Santiago and Alan Peter Cayetano, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, former rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson  and former Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello—all of whom got single digit rankings.

Respondents in the survey answered the question: “Of the people on this list, whom would you vote for as President/Vice President of the Philippines if the 2016 elections were held today and they were candidates? You may mention others not included in this list.”

The survey was conducted from September 8 to 14 with 2,400 respondents with a ± 2% error margin and 95 percent confidence level.

Poe, Escudero lead VP bets

Poe also led the survey for preferred vice presidential bets as 24 percent of respondents said that they would vote for her if elections were conducted during the survey period.

She is statistically tied with her running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, who was picked by 23 percent of the respondents.

Meanwhile, Nacionalista Party bets were able to secure third and fourth places on the list: Marcos got 13 percent while Cayetano got nine percent.

On the administration side, Aquino trumped reported Liberal Party vice presidential bets Batangas governor Vilma Santos-Recto and Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo. The President was chosen by six percent of the respondents to become Binay’s successor while Santos-Recto gained five percent and Robredo got three percent.