As the campaign period for the national elections ends today, presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio maintained a comfortable lead over their opponents in the latest pre-election survey conducted by Publicus Asia.
The survey, conducted from May 2 to May 5 with 1,500 respondents, showed Marcos ahead with 54 percent and Duterte-Carpio with 59 percent.
Marcos has been leading in seven Publicus surveys from October 2021 to May 2022, with voter preference shares of between 49 percent and 57 percent.
“While the preference shares of Marcos Jr. dipped from a peak of 57 percent during the third week of April to 54 percent in the first week of May, it is of note that his current mark is in line with his longer-term average,” Publicus said.
Marcos’s closest rival, Vice President Leni Robredo, got support from 22 percent of the respondents in the recent survey, with her voter preference share with the survey period from October 2021 ranging from20 to 23 percent.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso had 8 percent in the recent survey, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson had 4 percent, Senator Manny Pacquiao had 2 percent, and former Palace spokesman Ernesto Abella had 1 percent.
The survey noted that 6 percent of the respondents were still undecided.
In the vice presidential race, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan was in second place with 16 percent voter preference and overall preference ranging from 10 to 16 percent within the survey period.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Dr. Willie Ong are in a tie at 9 percent, and Buhay Party-list Rep. Jose “Lito” Atienza had 1 percent.
The Publicus survey also noted that the ranks 1 to 7 for the senatorial race can be viewed as “safe spots” as these candidates received around 35 percent preference in the May 2022 survey.
These were Sorsogon Gov. Francis “Chiz” Escudero (46.20 percent), Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (42.20 percent), Antique Rep, Loren Legarda (42.40 percent), Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (40.20 percent), broadcaster Raffy Tulfo (38.80 percent), former Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar (35.47 percent), and actor Robin Padilla (34.67 percent).
The survey has a ±3 percent margin of error for nationwide results and maintains that it was not commissioned.
On Thursday, with three days to go before the May 9 elections, Marcos Jr. maintained his wide lead over his rivals with a 58 percent voter preference rating in the final survey of OCTA Research.
The survey was conducted from April 22 to 25 with a sample size of 2,400 respondents and a margin of error of +/- 2 percent.
Marcos and Duterte-Carpio have been consistently topping pre-election surveys, including the latest from Pulse Asia this week where the former senator logged a 56-percent voters preference rating while the Davao City mayor had 55 percent.
In the Laylo Research survey conducted from April 14 to 20, Marcos saw his rating climb to 64 percent, up by three percentage points from his March rating, giving him a 43-point lead over Robredo.
The influential Iglesia Ni Cristo, which counts at least two million voting members, earlier this week endorsed the UniTeam tandem of Marcos and Duterte-Carpio.
