SEN. Benigno Aquino III continues to lead presidential candidates in next month’s elections, but former President Joseph Estrada has caught up with Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. Both are tied for second place, the latest Pulse Asia survey shows.
While Sen. Manuel Roxas II also still leads in the vice presidential race, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay has overtaken Sen. Loren Legarda to land in the second spot and is just nine points away from Roxas’ 37 percent lead, according to Pulse Asia.
Pulse Asia’s April 23-25 poll shows 39 percent of registered voters supporting Aquino’s presidential bid. Overall voter preference for both Estrada and Villar stood at 20 percent.
While Aquino leads in the rest of Luzon (37 percent), Metro Manila (39 percent) and the Visayas (47 percent), he has nearly the same percentages as Estrada in Mindanao: 36 percent versus 34 percent.
The polling firm reported a significant decline in voter preference—5 points—for Villar from its March survey.
Roxas himself experienced a 6- point drop since the March poll but still has 37 percent of registered voters supporting his candidacy. As a result, he leads Binay only by nine points. Legarda now ranks third, enjoying the support of 20 percent of voters, slightly lower than the 23 percent she got in March.
While Roxas is the leading candidate in Mindanao (38 percent) and the Visayas (44 percent), he and Binay enjoy practically the same voter preferences in Metro Manila (34 percent versus 38 percent) and the rest of Luzon (34 percent versus 29 percent).
Roxas also enjoys the support of Class ABC (55 percent), but almost the same percentages of those in Class D support either Roxas or Binay (36 percent versus 30 percent). Three candidates have the support of about the same percentages of those in Class E: Roxas (32 percent), Binay (27 percent) and Legarda (24 percent).
Pulse Asia cited key developments at the time it conducted the survey:
- Defections from the Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats, mostly to the Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party
- Election-related issues such as the purchase of ultraviolet lamps because the UV readers of the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines were unable to read the UV markings on the ballots, the scrapping of the P700 million contract for the purchase of ballot secrecy folders, and the rebidding of the contract for the purchase of indelible ink
- Completion of the printing of ballots for the May 2010 elections
- Various incidents of election-related violence across the country
- Sen. Francis G. Escudero’s endorsement of Aquino for president and Binay for vice-presidentA
- ccusations made by Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile against Villar that Villar used his position as Senate president to pressure the Philippine Stock Exchange to decide in his favor on a matter concerning the public offering of his real estate company’s shares
- Sen. Richard J. Gordon’s filing of charges against two survey groups
- Petitions from various sectors for a parallel manual count of votes
- The Supreme Court’s final ruling allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice (but not the next Sandiganbayan justice)
- Calls for the resignation and disbarment of Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra following his decision to clear two key suspects in the Maguindanao massacre
- Increase in power rates despite rotating brownouts in Metro Manila and other parts of the country