SWS mobile poll: Poe won Cebu presidential debate

Presidential aspirant Senator Grace Poe. FILE PHOTO/JAY MORALES

Senator Grace Poe was picked by most of the respondents of the Social Weather Stations-Bilang Pilipino mobile survey as the winner of the second presidential debate held in Cebu City last Sunday.

The presidential debate, which was held at the University of the Philippines-Cebu featured four of the five presidential candidates: Poe, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

READ: Duterte, Roxas won Cebu debate—INQUIRER.net Facebook, site polls

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago was not able to participate because she opted to undergo a clinical trial of a new anticancer drug.

The survey was held a day after the event. Fifty two percent of the respondents were able to watch the debate on television. Thirty nine percent of these respondents said that it was Poe who performed the best during the debate.

Following Poe is Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who was picked by 31 percent of the respondents. In third place is administration presidential bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas II who got the nod of 17 percent of the respondents. Vice President Jejomar Binay was in last place with only eight percent picking him as the winner of the debate. Four percent of the respondents did not give their answer.

READ: Duterte ties Poe at No. 1 in latest Pulse survey

In terms of geographic area, Poe was picked as the winner of the debate among the respondents from Balance Luzon (46 percent) and Visayas (36 percent). However, she came second among respondents from Metro Manila and Mindanao.

Duterte narrowly edged Poe in Metro Manila (36 percent to Poe’s 35 percent) but remained the top pick of Mindanao respondents at 53 percent.

Male respondents picked Duterte as the debate winner (36 percent), followed by Poe with 29 percent, Roxas with 23 percent and Binay with seven percent.

Meanwhile, Poe was declared the debate winner among female respondents with 51 percent. Poe is followed by Duterte with 26 percent, Roxas with 10 percent and Binay with 9 percent.

The survey had 1,200 original respondents—300 respondents each in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Of the 1,200 respondents, 794 or 66 percent responded to the mobile survey.

The respondents were given smartphones where they answer survey questions sent to them.

For the March 21 survey, the respondents answered the following questions:
a. Have you watched the last Presidential Debate this March 20, 2016? (Yes, No)

b. IF WATCHED THE DEBATE: In your opinion, who came out the best during the last Presidential Debate on March 20, 2016? (Jojo Binay, Rody Duterte, Grace Poe, Mar Roxas, Don’t know)

The survey had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±7 percent in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. IDL