Duterte, Marcos maintain sole leads in latest Pulse Asia survey

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – With just a month before the May 9 polls, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte maintained his lead over the other presidential aspirants in the latest Pulse Asia pre-election survey.

Three in 10 Filipinos or 32 percent of the respondents in the nationwide survey said they want the PDP-Laban standard bearer as president.

The survey was conducted from April 5 to 10, more than a week before Duterte’s controversial rape comments about an Australian missionary who was kidnapped and raped in Davao City. The tough-talking mayor already issued an apology on Tuesday (April 19).

Watch: Duterte draws flak for rape 'joke'

Duterte also led the previous survey conducted from March 29 to April 3 in which he enjoyed 30 percent of the respondents’ votes, overtaking Poe who had only 25 percent.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey, independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe secured the second spot, still with 25 percent.

Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and Liberal Party (LP) bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas II were statistically tied for third with 20 and 18 percent, respectively.

Still trailing far behind is Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago after garnering only one percent of the votes.

Related: Santiago resumes campaign after long break

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?]