SENATOR Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pulled slightly ahead of Senator Francis Escudero in the race for the vice presidency, but the two remain statistically tied at 25 percent to 24 percent, the research company Pulse Asia said Tuesday.
Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo came in second at 20 percent while Senator Alan Peter Cayetano took the third spot with 13 percent.
Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Gregorio Honasan II registered single-digit vice presidential voter preferences (6 percent and 5 percent, respectively).
About the same percentage of voters—6 percent—did not support any of the vice presidential candidates.
The survey, commissioned by ABS-CBN, was conducted from March 8 to 13, had over 4,000 respondents and a margin of error of 1.5 percent.
In Metro Manila, Marcos beat Escudero 35 percent to 30 percent, but the two enjoyed almost the same level of support in the rest of Luzon (29 percent and 28 percent, respectively), and Class D (27 percent and 25 percent, respectively).
Robredo had the lead in the Visayas (34 percent), while Marcos was the top pick for vice president among Class ABC voters (31 percent).
Four candidates had essentially the same support figures among Mindanao and Class E voters.
A little over a quarter of registered voters with a first choice for vice president chose Escudero as their alternative candidate for the position.
Sharing second place as the alternative preference to a first choice were Marcos (16 percent), Cayetano (15 percent), and Robredo (13 percent).
Among Class ABC voters, four vice presidential bets had about the same figures—Cayetano (21 percent), Escudero (18 percent), Marcos (15 percent), and Robredo (12 percent).
If Marcos ends up not running in May 2016, 30 percent of his voters would instead elect Escudero as vice president, the Pulse Asia survey showed.
In the senatorial race, Filipinos are naming an average of seven candidates. Only 13 of the 50 senatorial candidates have a statistical chance of winning, Pulse Asia said.
Of the probable winners, five come from the Liberal Party (LP), four are independent candidates, two are running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), while one candidate each come from the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and the Akbayan Party List Group.
Sharing the lead in the senatorial race are Senator Vicente Sotto III (51.4 percent) and Senate President Franklin M. Drilon (49.4 percent) who have a statistical ranking of 1st-2nd places.
The next three spots are occupied by former members of the Senate: former senator Francis Pangilinan (45.7 percent, 3rd-4th places); 2) former senator Panfilo Lacson (44.9 percent, 3rd-4th places); and 3) former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri (37.4 percent, 5th-7th places). Senator Sergio Osmeña III and former Akbayan Party List congresswoman Risa Hontiveros shared 5th-11th places with voter preferences of 35.3 percent and 34.9 percent, respectively. In 6th-11th places were Senator Ralph Recto (34.2 percent) and former Department of Justice secretary Leila M. de Lima (33.3 percent).
The other probable winners were former Senator Richard Gordon (32.7 percent, 6th-12th places), Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel Pacquiao (32.6 percent, 6th-12th places), Valenzuela City Representative Sherwin T. Gatchalian (29.8 percent, 10th-13th places), and former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director-general Emmanuel Villanueva (29.7 percent, 12th-13th places).
The survey fieldwork of the “Pulse Asia Research Inc.-ABS-CBN Pre-Electoral National Survey on the May 2016 Elections” was conducted from March 8 to 13,2016 using face-to-face interviews.
Based on a multistage probability sample of 4,000 registered voters 18 years old and above, with biometrics, Pulse Asia Research’s nationwide survey has a ± 1.5 percent error margin at the 95-percent confidence level.
Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have the following error margins at 95 percent confidence level: ± 4.6 percent for Metro Manila, ± 2.3 percent for the rest of Luzon and ± 3.4 percent for Visayas and ± 3.3 for Mindanao.
Marcos said the latest survey findings inspire him to work even harder on the campaign.
“We are happy that our message of unity resonates and is being accepted by the people. I think we are moving in the right direction. We remain focused on the campaign and we will continue to work harder to get our message across to more people,” he said.