MANILA, Philippines — Former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas entered the "Magic 12" in the latest Pulse Asia senatorial survey released Friday.
Although Roxas ranked 8th to 15th in the December survey, which the poll firm also considered a possible win the upcoming elections, the opposition bet ranked 7th to 14th in the January survey. Around 41.8 percent of the respondents said they would vote for him.
Go, on the other hand, registered the highest jump in his ratings with 44.7 percent, ranking 6th to 12th. In the previous survey, he only scored 29.7 percent and ranked 14th to 16th.
Former Sen. Serge Osmeña suffered the biggest drop from 38.8 percent (8th to 13th) in December to 37.7 percent (10th to 15th).
Former PNP chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's ranking also dropped from 8th to 15th in December to 11th to 16th in January.
Despite not entering the "Magic 12" this time, Osmeña and Dela Rosa are still considered as probable winners in the senatorial elections as Pulse Asia considers the top 15 names.
Sen. Grace Poe maintained her lead with an overall voter preference of 74.9 percent, followed by Sen. Cynthia Villar with 60.5 percent, Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano with 53.3 percent and former Sen. Lito Lapid with 53.0 percent.
Reelectionist Sens. Nancy Binay and Sonny Angara ranked 3rd to 7th and 3rd to 9th, respectively.
Also in the list of possible winners are Sen. Koko Pimentel, former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, former Sen. Bong Revilla and Sen. Bam Aquino.
The survey was conducted from January 26 to 31 using face-to-face interviews among 1,800 voters aged 18 years old and above. The poll has a a + 2.3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.