Poe easily tops Pulse Asia senatorial survey

If the elections were held in the last week of March, Sen. Grace Poe would have topped the senatorial race, a nationwide survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed.

Out of the 58 names included in the survey, 15—of whom 11 are either former or incumbent senators—would have a “statistical chance of winning” a seat had the elections been held during the March 23-28 survey period.

Results of the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, showed that 70.8 percent of Filipino adults would have voted for Poe, catapulting her to solo first place.

Slate complete

With still more than a year before the 2019 midterm elections, the survey found that more than half, or 57 percent, of Filipinos already have a complete slate of 12 senatorial bets.

Pulse Asia asked 1,200 adults nationwide: “If the 2019 elections were held today, who among the following personalities would you vote for, assuming they would run for office?” The poll outfit provided a list of candidates and asked the respondents to choose only 12.

Sen. Cynthia Villar (55.6 percent) and Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano, a former senator (53.8 percent), were in second to third places, followed by Sen. Nancy Binay (45.8 percent) in fourth to sixth places.

Sara ranks 4th to 7th

Sen. Sonny Angara (44.9 percent) and President Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte (43.8 percent), ranked fourth to seventh while Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (39.8 percent) landed in fifth to ninth places.

Also making it to the list of probable winners were former Sen. Serge Osmeña (38 percent) in seventh to 12th places, and news host Erwin Tulfo (36.7 percent) in seventh to 13th places.

In eighth to 15th places were former Sen. Lito Lapid (33.8 percent), former Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa (33.1 percent) and former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (32.8 percent).

Completing the top 15 were Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos (32.2 percent) in ninth to 15th places, Sen. Bam Aquino (30.5 percent) in 10th to 19th places, and Sen. JV Ejercito (29 percent) in 10th to 19th places.

Six of the 20 candidates being considered by Pimentel, president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, for slots in proadministration slate were in the top 15. They are Poe, Villar, Cayetano, Binay, Angara and Ejercito. —INQUIRER RESEARCH