INQ.net poll: Duterte already decided in gunning for president

MAJORITY of INQUIRER.net readers think that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has already decided in running for president in the 2016 elections despite repeatedly saying he has no intentions of doing so.

In an online poll conducted by INQUIRER.net ahead of Duterte’s “big announcement,” more than 70 percent of respondents answered no when asked if they believe that the mayor is still undecided about a possible presidential bid.

A total of 2,495 out of 5,658 respondents (44.1 percent) said Duterte was “only pretending to be uninterested,” while 30.21 percent (1,709 votes) answered that the mayor was “only waiting for his survey ratings to reach a certain threshold.”

Only 14.17 percent (802 votes) think that Duterte is “genuinely uncertain” about running for president, while 400 voters (7.07 percent) believe that he “does not want to run but is open to a draft.”

Less than five percent or equivalent to 252 respondents, meanwhile, answered “I don’t know.”

Amid public clamor urging him to run for president in next year’s polls, Duterte has repeatedly said he was not interested in seeking the top national post because of a “flawed government system” and his family’s opposition, among other reasons.

Duterte’s camp on Sunday said the tough-talking mayor will make a “big announcement” at 4 p.m. Monday at Grand Men Seng Hotel in Davao City. Yuji Vincent Gonzales