By Jelly F. Musico
MANILA, Oct. 28 (PNA) – Amid series of disqualification cases filed against her, Senator Grace Poe remains the top favorite among the presidential aspirants in the 2016 elections.
In the first nationwide survey conducted by Magdalo immediately after the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the 2016 elections, Grace Poe widened her lead after topping almost all regions of the country.
The lady senator garnered 43 percent from the 3,000 respondents in a survey conducted from Oct. 20 to 22.
Congressman Francisco Ashley Acedillo, Magdalo party list representative, explained: “In this pre-election survey, we provided respondents with the list of known individuals who filed their certificate of candidacy for the position, and they were asked ‘If elections would be held today, who among the possible candidates would you vote for?’”
Following Poe were Vice President Jejomar Binay with 27 percent; former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas with 17 percent; and Senator Miram Santiago with 11 percent.
At the tail end of the survey were former Ambassador Roy Señeres and former TESDA Chief Augusto Syjuco, who were tied with 0.2 percent.
In the vice presidential result of the same survey, Poe’s running mate Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero continues to lead with 37 percent despite a 17 percent decline compared to his rating last September.
Following Escudero in second place was Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos with 24 percent while tied in third place were Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano, with 11 percent.
Coming in fifth was Congresswoman Leni Robredo with 9 percent, while Sen. Gringo Honasan came last with 7 percent.
“We have expected that there would be substantial changes in the candidates’ ratings and rankings compared to our previous surveys as the people are now having a clearer idea who will be running in the upcoming elections,” Acedillo further explained.
The survey employed a multi-stage probability sampling design with almost 3,000 respondents distributed across the different regions of the country, and has a margin of error of 1.8 percent. (PNA)