Pulse: Duterte widens lead, Marcos retains top rank

MANILA, Philippines – With just a few weeks before the May 9 elections, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. continue to pull away from their rivals as shown by the latest Pulse Asia survey commissioned by ABS-CBN.

The survey was done from April 12 to 17. It used face-to-face interviews of 4,000 respondents and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

The tough-talking mayor continues to widen his lead in the presidential race. Duterte obtained 34 percent, 12 points ahead of closest rival Sen. Grace Poe, who got 22 percent.

Duterte’s score improved by two percent from 32 percent in the April 5-10 poll of Pulse Asia, while Poe’s rating dropped by three points.

The survey, however, was done before Duterte drew strong public rebuke for his joke about the rape of an Australian missionary in a Davao City jail in 1989. He made the remark on April 12, but it only got much media attention on April 17.

Duterte’s camp said they are “humbled by the continuing rise” of his survey rating “in spite of all the garbage thrown at him.”

In a statement, Duterte’s spokesman Peter Laviña said that Duterte’s recent numbers in the survey “only prove that Filipinos from all classes are clamoring for genuine change.”

He added that Duterte’s 12-point lead in the survey inspires the mayor’s camp “to work even harder to frustrate last-ditch efforts by the traditional politicians to stop the advance and victory of our people.” 

Poe was followed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with 19 percent and Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas with 18 percent.

Binay suffered a one-point decline, while Roxas’ rating was flat.

Still trailing far behind is Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who got two percent from one percent in the previous poll.

Duterte led in the National Capital Region with 43 percent, followed by Poe with 22 percent, Binay with 19 percent and Roxas with 11 percent.

Poe and Binay, meanwhile, topped the survey in balance Luzon with 30 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Duterte got 20 percent, while Roxas received14 percent.

Roxas shared the lead with Duterte in the Visayas with 34 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Duterte continued to dominate the presidential race in Mindanao with 61 percent.

He also ruled the survey across all social classes: 47 percent in Class ABC, 33 percent in Class D, and 34 percent in Class E.

VP race

Meanwhile, Marcos remains the front-runner in the vice presidential race. The survey was done two days after the first vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas, where Marcos, son and namesake of the late dictator, was pummeled by his fellow candidates over alleged corruption and violation of human rights during martial law.

Marcos, Santiago’s runningmate, took the solo lead with 29 percent of 4,000 respondents backing his candidacy.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, Roxas’ runningmate, was in second place with 23 percent, followed by Poe’s runningmate, Sen. Francis Escudero, with 20 percent.

Sixteen percent of respondents picked Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s runningmate.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan II, runningmate of Binay, and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, independent candidate, remained at the fifth and sixth slots with four percent and three percent, respectively.

The survey has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Marcos led the survey with wide margins in the National Capital Region with 43 percent and balance Luzon with 36 percent.

Robredo was still the top choice for vice president in the Visayas with 35 percent, while Cayetano dominated Mindanao with 32 percent.

Marcos also emerged as the top-of-mind candidate among classes ABC and the biggest voting bloc D at 39 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Robredo dominated Class E with 26 percent.

Marcos’ score improved two points from 27 percent in the April 5 to 10 Pulse Asia survey also commissioned by ABS-CBN.

Robredo also improved by two-points, while Escudero suffered a three-point drop.

Cayetano, on the other hand, lost a point from his previous 17 percent.

The ratings of Honasan and Trillanes did not change. – With Robertzon Ramirez