Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, former Senator and rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. are the top three choices of respondents for the Senate race in next year’s polls, the results of a survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed.
In its “Ulat ng Bayan” survey conducted from September 8 to 14, Sotto led the race with 63.6 percent, followed by Lacson and Marcos who got 59.3 and 54.9 percent, respectively.
In the survey, 2,400 respondents were asked to pick their preferred senatorial bets in a list which included 50 names.
Following Sotto, Lacson, and Marcos in the list are:
- Senate President Franklin M. Drilon (48.2 percent),
- Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis N. Pangilinan (46.6 percent),
- Senator Ralph G. Recto (45.4 percent),
- former Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri (41.4 percent),
- Saranggani Representative Manny Pacquiao (39.6 percent),
- Senator Sergio R. Osmeña III (38.7 percent),
- former Senator Richard Gordon (36.8 percent),
- Las Piñas City Representative Mark Villar (35.8 percent),
- Former Senator Jamby Madrigal (35.2 percent)
- Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila M. de Lima (35.2 percent), and
- Taguig City Representative Lino Edgardo S. Cayetano (34.2 percent).
Pulse Asia said respondents were able to name an average of 10 names of their preferred senatorial bets, with most of them, or 64 percent, having a complete senatorial slate in mind.
Only 2.1 percent of respondents do not support any of the probable senatorial candidates in next year’s elections.
Sotto and Lacson also led the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on top senatorial picks according to the results of the survey first published on BusinessWorld last Sept. 22.