Binay vows to work harder after five-point drop in SWS survey

UNA presidential candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay flexes his muscles beside vice presidential candidate Sen. Gregorio Honasan during a campaign sortie motorcade from San Miguel, through San Ildefonso and San Rafael in Bulacan.
INQUIRER PHOTO / LYN RILLON

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay vowed to double his efforts in campaigning following his five-point drop in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS).

In a statement on Monday, Binay’s spokesperson Atty. Rico Quicho said the survey results were versatile.

READ: Poe grabs top spot in latest SWS poll; Binay loses big | Binay camp twits Aquino over 2010 win: Respect people’s will

He said the Binay camp hoped that the survey results would reflect the warm response from people on the ground during Binay’s campaign sorties.

“The results of the survey go up and down but the Vice President will double his efforts to cover as many areas and talk to as many people as possible,” Quicho said.

“We wish that hopefully the results of the survey would truly reflect what is happening on the ground and what can be seen in the media coverage of our sorties and rallies,” he added.

According to the survey conducted March 4 to 7 first published in BusinessWorld, Binay got in at second place while his political nemesis Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas landed at third.

Binay shed five percentage points from the last survey in February to get 24 percent, while Roxas got the biggest gain of four percentage points rising to 22 percent.

Leading the survey is independent presidential bet Sen. Grace Poe, who got 27 percent of respondents gaining three percentage points.

The survey was conducted ahead of the Supreme Court majority decision released March 8 ruling that Poe is a natural-born citizen and has complied with the 10-year residency requirement, clearing her way to run in the presidential race.

Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte slumped three points to 21 percent, while Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago got four percent.

The SWS pre-election survey was done after the first presidential debate in Cagayan de Oro on Feb. 21. The poll was done using face-to-face interviews with 1,800 validated voters. It had a margin of error of + or – 2 percentage points.

With a margin of error of plus minus two, Poe and Binay are technically in a statistical tie for the lead, while Binay, Roxas and Duterte’s survey ratings overlap.