With 28 percent nationwide preference, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte remained the top choice among 15 names of possible candidates for president in next year’s election, a latest survey by OCTA Research revealed.
“Former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. retained his rank as second preferred presidential candidate with 13 percent rating if the elections were to be held between July 12 and 18, 2021,” the OCTA Research survey said.
Almost statistically tied in third place are senators Grace Poe and Manny Pacquiao as well as Mayor Francisco ‘Isko’ Domagoso, with 10 percent preference for both senators and 11 percent for the Manila mayor.
The survey also revealed that among the 15 possible presidentiables, former Senator Marcos was the top choice of respondents in the National Capital Region with 23 percent preference. Duterte and Domagoso had 15 percent and 22 percent respectively.
Other possible candidates for president who were included in the survey list: Vice President Leni Robredo, 5 percent; Alan Peter Cayetano, 5 percent; Bong Go, 4 percent; Tito Sotto, 3 percent; Panfilo Lacson, 2 percent; former VP Jejomar Binay, 2 percent; Richard Gordon, 1 percent; Antonio Trillanes, 1 percent; and former Liberal Party presidential bet Mar Roxas and former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, who both got a zero survey preference.
Marcos was consistently placed on the second spot in the first two surveys of Pulse Asia since December last year.
Moreno was not even on the third spot of the said survey.
The survey was conducted while Carpio was reportedly doing some rounds in several provinces, including Cebu that is recognized as having the biggest number of voters.
Moreno, on the other hand, was active in the media of which one of his media operations was when he lambasted President Duterte after the latter made remarks on the mayor’s continued vaccination program despite the bad weather.
Marcos was very busy helping some poor people in a number of provinces like those residents in Batangas affected by the active movement of the Taal Volcano, residents of Pateros who were hit by fire and poor people in Baguio City who still need protective gadgets from coronavirus disease—2019 (COVID–19).
Political analysts were awaiting Marcos’ announcement on his plans for May 2022 elections since they strongly believe that the political landscape will drastically change if Marcos will be running for president in the next year’s polls.