Senator Grace Poe. ARNOLD ALMACEN / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
SEN. GRACE Poe scored a 4-percentage point advantage over Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the latest Pulse Asia survey conducted in the first week of March, just days before the Supreme Court ruled she was qualified to run for president.
In the vice presidential race, Senators Francis Escudero and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. were statistically tied on top, while Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo trailed closely behind them.
The national survey commissioned by ABS-CBN and released Tuesday had 28 percent of the 2,600 respondents saying they would vote for Poe.
Poe was also the second choice of the respondents, and if she was not allowed to run for president, Vice President Jejomar Binay would have benefited the most as about a third of Poe’s supporters picked Binay as their alternate candidate.
The survey was conducted on March 1-6, prior to the March 8 release of the Supreme Court ruling which cleared Poe’s run for the presidency.
Voting 9-6, the high tribunal reversed the Commission on Elections disqualification of Poe for failure to meet citizenship and residency rules.
The survey had 24 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Duterte. Not far behind were Binay with 21 percent and Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas with 20 percent. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago received the support of 3 percent.
The survey had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.9 percentage points. It asked the respondents: “If the elections were held today, whom would you vote for president of the Philippines?”
Different results
Poe had the support of 30 percent of respondents from Metro Manila, while Duterte and Binay each received the backing of 23 percent.
Poe was also the top pick in Luzon outside Metro Manila (36 percent), while Roxas led in the Visayas (37 percent), his bailiwick. Duterte was ahead in Mindanao (47 percent), where the mayor hails from.
The camp of Binay downplayed the Pulse Asia survey which saw the United Nationalist Alliance standard-bearer dropping to third spot in the preelection presidential survey.
“Different surveys, different results,” Binay spokesperson Rico Quicho said.
The survey was released two days after the latest Social Weather Stations poll which had Binay in second place right behind front-runner Poe.
Quicho said the Pulse Asia survey showed the core support for Binay remained solidly behind him.
Aside from their first choice presidential preference, respondents were asked: “If your choice does not pursue his/her candidacy for whatever reason, whom among the remaining candidates would you vote for president if the elections were held today?”
Poe emerged as the top alternative candidate with 29 percent, while Binay came in second with 21 percent, Roxas and Duterte each recorded 14 percent, Santiago 8 percent, and 14 percent either said they didn’t know, refused to answer or had no alternate candidate.
The survey showed that in the event Poe dropped out, 29 percent of her supporters would vote for Binay. Inquirer Research; Christine O. Avendaño