Noynoy holds wide margin in latest Pulse Asia survey

Less than five months before the elections, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd continued to lead other presidential candidates by a sizeable margin, pollster Pulse Asia reported Tuesday.

Aquino of the Liberal Party was favored by 45 percent of the respondents in the nationwide pre-elections survey by Pulse Asia.

Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. of the rival Nacionalista Party received 23 percent, and former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada of the Partido ng Masamang Pilipino (PMP) got 19 percent of the respondents’ votes.

Aquino, Villar and Estrada all belong to parties allied with the opposition.

The administration candidate, former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi CMD, received 5 percent in the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Sen. Richard “Dick” Gordon and evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva each received 1 percent.

The ranking of those candidates has been similar to that of previous surveys of presidential aspirants.

Popular in Visayas

“Aquino obtains majority support among the voters in the Visayas [52 percent] and near majority support from the well-off ABC socioeconomic class,” Pulse Asia reported. “His electoral preference is basically at the same level across the other areas and socioeconomic classes.”

Pulse Asia added that compared to its previous surveys, the support for Aquino was virtually unchanged.

The survey also noted that there was a significant improvement in voter preference for former President Estrada, whose ratings improved by 8 percentage points, from 11 percent to 19 percent.

Tight race for VP

Also on Tuesday, Pulse Asia said that Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd of the Liberal Party and Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nacionalistas were virtually tied for the lead in the vice presidential race.

“Roxas and Legarda are statistically tied for first place in the vice presidential race, with each obtaining support from close to four out of 10 Filipinos,” Pulse Asia reported.

“If the elections were held at the time of the survey, Senator Roxas would get a majority of votes in the Visayas [58 percent], while Senator Legarda would have a plurality of the votes from Balance of Luzon [43 percent],” it added.

The Balance of Luzon refers to all the regions on the main island, except Metro Manila.

Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City ranked second place, “statistically speaking,” with 14 percent of the electoral preference nationwide.

In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected separately.

Jinggoy leads Senate race

Leading the senatorial race is reelectionist Jinggoy Estrada, whose overall voter preference of 55.1 percent translates to a statistical ranking of first to third place. He is the son of former President Estrada.

Following Sen. Estrada were Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. (52.7 percent) and Miriam Defensor Santiago (51.4 percent).

Completing the list were: Former Senate President Franklin Drilon (48.4 percent), Sen. Pia Cayetano (43.1 percent), former National Economic and Development Authority Director General Ralph Recto (43.1 percent), Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (42.7 percent), former Senators Sergio Osmeña and Vicente Sotto (both with 40.2 percent), Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of Ilocos Norte (31 percent), Rep. Teofisto Guingona 3rd of Bukidnon (28.6 percent), Jose “Joey” de Venecia 3rd (24.3 percent), Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid (23.1 percent) and Rep. Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” Biazon of Muntinlupa (22.9 percent).

Pulse Asia also said that there was a decline in the fill-out rates in the senatorial race, with only three out of 10 Filipinos having a complete senatorial line-up.

Up for election in May are 12 senatorial slots, half of the total.

The latest Pulse Asia survey was conducted from December 8 to 10, using face-to-face interviews with 1,800 representative adults, 18 years old and older.

Pulse Asia’s survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent at the national level, plus or minus 6 percent for Metro Manila, plus or minus 4 percent for the rest of Luzon, and plus or minus 5 percent for each of Visayas and Mindanao. –ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO Reporter, Manila Times