CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas is now nearing the top slot in the presidential race and is fast gaining on contender Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey commissioned by the ABS-CBN Network.
The survey, with a sample size of 4,000 registered voter-respondents culled nationwide, was conducted on April 26 to 29, a week after the final presidential debate in Dagupan City.
It had a +/-1.5 percent margin of error.
Pulse Asia noted that Roxas switched places with Senator Grace Poe, with the LP bet ahead at 22 percent versus the latter's 21 percent and just 11 percent away from Duterte’s 33 percent preference rating.
Vice President Jejomar Binay slid to fourth place with 17 percent, while Senator Miriam Santiago stayed at the rear with a two percent preference rating.
The survey also showed that Roxas is top choice at 38 percent in the 11,316,789 vote-rich Visayas region with a Class E voting bloc of 24 percent.
Meanwhile, a non-commissioned pre-election survey released by D' Strafford Research and Strategies Inc. on May 2, 2016 showed Roxas leading the presidential derby.
D' Strafford Research and Strategies, Inc. -- priding itself with accuracy and precision -- used face-to-face interviews among 4,500 registered voters on April 25 to 29 with a proportionate voter’s regional population and respondent distribution of 520 for the National Capital Region, 1,044 for Mindanao, 1,998 for Luzon and 938 for Visayas. Every respondent was given equal screening time, assuring that not one of them is affiliated to any political group, candidate, government or media office.
Answering the preference question “Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino ang pinakamalamang ninyong iboboto bilang president?”, 27.8 percent of the respondents chose Roxas, followed by Duterte with 25.4 percent and Poe with a 23.6 preference rating. Binay landed at fourth with 16.6 percent and Santiago with 2.7 percent.
The Pulse Asia and D’ Strafford surveys registered four percent and three percent of “don’t know, refused, undecided or none” respondents respectively.
In a separate interview, LP stalwart Pampanga Third District Representative Oscar Rodriguez attributed the surge of Roxas’ ratings to the shift of preferences from Duterte to the former in the last few days to the rise of the “silent majority.”
“They are a silent majority no more. With the recent Duterte blunders there are people who have been going back to Roxas. People now are thinking and re-thinking after the recent issues and public statements made by Duterte that has earned mixed reactions on mainstream and social media,” he said.
Rodriguez said that the silent majority coupled with the LP network and the government support will surely play for the advantage of Roxas. He noted that the possibility of a Duterte presidency brings more apprehensions.
He stressed that Roxas may have a victory similar to that of former President Fidel Valdez Ramos in 1992. “It will not be a majority win but he will win nonetheless,” Rodriguez said, adding that the vaunted LP machinery will certainly turn the tide for Roxas as election day nears. (JTD)