Duterte, Marcos sustain leads in latest Pulse Asia survey
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – Less than a month before the May 9 polls, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte of PDP-Laban maintained a wide lead over other presidential candidates in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
One in three Filipinos or 33 percent of the respondents in the nationwide survey voted for Duterte as president, if the 2016 elections were held during the April 19 to 24 survey period.
The nationwide survey was conducted as the tough-talking mayor continued to receive flak for his rape slur.
Watch: Duterte draws flak for rape 'joke'
Duterte established an 11-point lead over independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe with 22 percent, Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II with 20 percent, and Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) who garnered 18 percent.
Poe, Roxas and Binay are statistically tied at second spot. While Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago still trailed far behind with only two percent.
2016 Presidential candidates: (L-R) Sen. Grace Poe, Davao Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, and Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.
Related: What is your presidential candidate's platform of government?
A total of 4,000 registered voters were interviewed for the poll commissioned by ABS-CBN, which has a ± 1.5% error margin with a 95-percent confidence level.
Respondents were asked the question, “Kung ang darating na eleksyon sa Mayo 2016 ay gaganapin ngayon, sino po ang inyong iboboto bilang PRESIDENTE NG PILIPINAS?
[Translation: If the May 2016 elections were held today, who would you vote as PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES?]
The survey was released on Friday night (April 29).
WATCH: How surveys are carried out
Duterte-Marcos for 2016?
This is the fifth consecutive Pulse Asia survey that showed Duterte and independent vice presidential bet Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. taking sole leads.
The first was the survey conducted from March 29 to April 3, when Duterte overtook Poe and Marcos broke away from a previous statistical tie with Escudero.
Despite his running mate, Santiago, placing last in pre-election surveys, Marcos kept his lead over the other vice presidential candidates in the most recent survey as he enjoyed 31 percent of the respondents’ votes.
LP’s Leni Robredo still secured the second spot after garnering 26 percent of the votes.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who formerly took the solo lead in earlier surveys, is now statistically tied with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for the third place. Escudero gained 18 percent, Cayetano 15.
Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Gringo Honasan shared the last spot with only three percent and two percent, respectively.
Watch: Reactions to VP debate 2016
Malacañang: Roxas-Robredo is rising
The administration remains unfazed despite Roxas’ failure to lead pre-election surveys.
“Roxas is rising, statistically tied with Senator Poe as she and the Vice President continue to lose ground,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III said in a statement.
He added the survey was conducted before the last presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on April 24 and the “recent integrity issues which only fortifies the probability of an accelerating upward trajectory for Roxas-Robredo.”
Related: Robredo: Maintaining survey lead a challenge
Sotto, Drilon top senatorial bets
The latest Pulse Asia survey also showed probable winners in the 2016 senatorial race.
WATCH: Meet the leading senatorial candidates in surveys
Re-electionists Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and Sen. Franklin “Frank” Drilon of LP were the top senatorial bets with 48 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
Completing the list of top 12 senatorial choices are: Senators Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan and Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, former Akbayan Party List Rep. Risa Hontiveros, former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Sen. Sergio R. Osmeña III, former Technical Education and Skills Development Administration (TESDA) Director General Emmanuel Villanueva, former Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Ralph Recto, and Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin T. Gatchalian.
