Poe retakes lead in SWS poll as Binay loses big

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Grace Poe regained the lead in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) presidential preference surveys, as Vice President Jejomar Binay, who previously ranked first, became statistically tied to administration bet Manuel "Mar" Roxas II.

The results of the March 4 to 7 survey first published on BusinessWorld showed Poe pulling ahead with a three-point gain from 24 percent in the last survey period to 27 percent.

Binay lost five percentage points from 29 percent to 24 percent, making him statistically at par with Roxas given the ±2-point sampling error margin. Roxas is preferred by 22 percent of the voters—an improvement from his previous 18 percent. The pre-election survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 1,800 validated voters representative of the voting population.

Pollsters believe that the latest survey may have been affected by reaction from the first presidential debate held in Mindanao and aired on national television on February 21. Poe, meanwhile, is still expected to take a larger lead following the Supreme Court's sanction for her candidacy in the next survey period.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte lost three percentage points from 24 percent to 21 percent, while Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago retained the preference of four percent of voters. — Camille Diola