Duterte, Marcos still top picks in Pulse-ABS-CBN survey

MANILA, Philippines - Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. remained the top picks for president and vice president for the May 9 elections, respectively, based on the latest Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN.

Duterte obtained 33 percent voter preference, according to the Pulse Asia poll taken from April 19 to 24, down from 34 percent in its April 12-17 survey.

The poll was conducted after Duterte made his controversial joke on the 1989 rape and killing of an Australian missionary in a Davao jail. The survey, however, was fielded before news about Duterte’s bank accounts broke out.

Sen. Grace Poe and Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas are statistically tied for second place with 22 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

Poe’s rating was flat, while Roxas’ score increased by two points.

United Nationalist Alliance standard bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay obtained 18 percent, down from 19 percent previously.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s rating stayed at two percent.

Duterte and Poe are statistically tied for the top spot in the National Capital Region at 34 percent and 26 percent, respectively. 

Poe is the most preferred candidate for president in the rest of Luzon with 29 percent voter preference. 

In the Visayas, the top choices are Roxas and Duterte with 37 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

Duterte dominated the race in Mindanao with nearly six in 10 voters (58 percent) backing his candidacy. However, support in Mindanao, Duterte’s bailiwick, dropped by three points from 61 percent in the previous survey.

Duterte maintained his lead in all social classes, although he shared the lead in Class E with Poe. 

Duterte got 37 percent voter preference in class ABC, 33 percent in the biggest voting bloc class D and 31 percent in class E.

Poe was the choice of 24 percent of voters in Class E.

VP race

In the vice presidential race, Marcos remained the top choice with 31 percent, two points up from 29 percent in the April 12-17 Pulse Asia poll, which was also commissioned by ABS-CBN. 

A total of 26 percent picked LP bet Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo. This was a three-point improvement from 23 percent in the previous ABS-CBN survey. 

Sens. Francis Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano shared third place with 18 percent and 15 percent, from 20 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV obtained three percent (flat), followed by Sen. Gregorio Honasan II of UNA with two percent (from four percent). 

Marcos dominated the poll in NCR and balance Luzon by wide margins (45 percent and 38 percent). 

Robredo continued to lead in the Visayas with 39 percent. She also shared the lead in Mindanao with Cayetano, Duterte’s runningmate, 27 percent and 31 percent.

Marcos was the top candidate among respondents in classes ABC and the biggest voting bloc D (38 percent and 31 percent). 

Marcos also shared the lead with Robredo in Class E at 24 percent and 30 percent, respectively.