Bongbong Marcos, Sara Duterte top latest Pulse Asia voter survey, while Robredo improves
Five months before the 2022 national elections, the Marcos-Duterte tandem is the Filipino’s top choice for the two highest offices in the land as shown by the latest election survey of Pulse Asia.
According to the survey conducted from Dec. 1 to 6 and released on Dec. 22, more than half (53%) of Filipino adults express support for former senator and late dictator’s son and namesake Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in his presidential bid, while 45% are in favor of having Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte as the country’s next vice president.
Marcos, who is facing several disqualification petitions in the Commission on Elections, received his highest ratings from Mindanao at 64% and the National Capital Region (NCR) at 61%.
Among the presidential aspirants, Vice President Leni Robredo takes the far second place with 20%, an improvement from the June poll where she received 8%.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso trailed at 8%. Senators Manny Pacquiao and Panfilo Lacson both received 6%.
Former NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade Jr., former Department of National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzalez and labor leader Leody de Guzman “receive essentially no support from the electorate (almost nil to 0.01%)” according to Pulse Asia.
Some 3% of Filipino adults are still undecided on who to vote for president in the 2022 elections.
Vice presidential hopefuls
About 45% of registered voters would elect Sara Duterte if the elections were held at the time the survey was conducted, according to Pulse Asia.
Duterte declared she had no intention of running for a national position in the 2022 elections, but changed tune, scrapped her reelection bid in Davao City and filed her certificate of candidacy in November and eventually joined forces with Marcos as her running mate.
The polls show that the bulk of her supporters naturally came from Mindanao at 82%. She also rated 45% in NCR, 38% in Visayas and 29% in Luzon.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III was backed by 31% of voters, whose support is almost evenly spread out throughout the country. He is also the second-choice vice presidential preference. Senator Francis Pangilinan trails behind at 12%.
Candidates who received single-digit voter preferences include Dr. Willie Ong (6%) and Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza (1%). Former Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello received less than 1%.
Senatorial race
Among the senatorial aspirants, nine of them are either current or former members of the Congress.
Filipino adult voters chose Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano as the top senatorial candidate and gained 64.1% of votes. Broadcaster Raffy Tulfo, who previously led the September survey, trailed behind with 60%.
Antique Rep. Loren Legarda received 58.7%, Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero with 53.9% and Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar with 51.3%.
Completing the “Magic 12” most preferred candidates are the following:
- Sen Juan Miguel Zubiri — 49.4%
- Former Vice President Jejomar Binay — 44.7%
- Senator Joel Villanueva — 41.6%
- Senator Sherwin Gatchalian — 40.41%
- President Rodrigo Duterte (who recently dropped his senatorial bid) — 35.8%
- Actor Robin Padilla — 35.6%
- Senator Risa Hontiveros — 35.5%
Those at the fringes of the Top 12 are former senator Gringo Honasan (30.5%), former senator Antonio Trillanes IV (27%), Senator Richard Gordon (23.2%) and former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista (21.9%).
According to Pulse Asia, the face-to-face nationwide survey was conducted with 2,400 respondents, 18 years old and above. The survey has a ± 2% error margin at 95% confidence level.