WITH about four months to go before the May 10, 2010 elections, presidential candidates Sen. Benigno C. Aquino (Liberal Party) and Sen. Manuel B. Villar (Nacionalista Party) are tied in first place in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
In the survey conducted nationwide Jan. 22 to 26 among 1,800 respondents, Aquino gained the votes of 37 percent got Villar 35 percent. The survey had a margin of error of +/-2 percent.
The other candidate with a double digit score was former President Joseph Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) with 12 percent.
The administration’s candidate, Gilbert C. Teodoro ( Lakas-Kampi) got 5 percent; Eduardo Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan), 1 percent; Jamby Madrigal, 0.5 percent; Juan Carlos de los Reyes, 0.3 percent; Vetallano Acosta, 0.2 percent; Nicanor Perlas, .05 percent.
Six percent either refused to answer or were undecided.
Compared to the December 2009 survey, support for Senator Villar improved by 12% percentage points, while preference for Senator Aquino and former President Estrada declined by 8 and 7 percentage points, respectively.
In the vice-presidential race, almost half of the respondents (47 percent) went for Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas (LP), who increased his lead over Senator Loren Legarda of Nacionalista Party who got the nod of 28 percent of the respondents.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay (PDP Laban, at 13 percent) in third place.
Compared to December’s survey, Roxas increased his score by 8 percentage points while Legarda decreased by 9 percentage points.