RE-ELECTIONIST Senator Cynthia Villar remained the top choice of Filipino voters for the Senate in the upcoming 18th Congress, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.
The May 3 to 6 poll, released on Saturday, May 11, found that Villar topped the list of probable winners in the senatorial race in the May 13 midterm elections, getting a voter preference of 55.9 percent.
Villar was followed by re-electionist Senator Grace Poe, whose ranking dropped to second from the first spot after obtaining just 47.7 percent voter preference.
Taguig Representative Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano secured second to fourth places, after 45 percent of the respondents said they would vote for her.
Landing in the third to seventh spot was former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, with a voter preference of 42 percent.
The possible comeback of former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. was also seen, after 39.5 percent of registered voters backed his senatorial bid, thus, giving him a statistical ranking of fourth to eighth places.
Former senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid and former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa were tied in the fourth to ninth spot, enjoying the support of 38.5 percent and 37.9 percent of registered voters, respectively.
Ilocos Norte Governor Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos came in sixth to 14 places with 34.1 percent voter preference, followed by re-electionist Senator Nancy Binay, who ranked in eighth to 15th spot with 32.8 percent voter preference.
Sharing the ninth to 15th places were re-electionist senators Aquilino “Koko” PImentel III (31.7 percent), Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito (31.2 percent), and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV (30.6 percent), along with former senator Jinggoy Estrada (30.8 percent).
Former presidential adviser on political affairs Francis Tolentino was in 10th to 15th places after getting the support of 28.9 percent of registered voters.
Around 1,800 registered voters were interviewed by Pulse Asia, using error margins of ± 2.3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Subnational estimates for the geographic areas were ± 6.8 percentage points for Metro Manila, ± 3.5 percentage points for the rest of Luzon, ±5.1 percentage points for Visayas, and ±4.8 percentage points for Mindanao using error margins at 95 percent confidence level. (SunStar Philippines)