SEN. Manuel Roxas of the Liberal Party continues to lead other vice presidential candidates even as his margin over Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nacionalista Parta has narrowed since January, according to the Social Weather Stations’ poll in late February.
In the Senate race, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. Pilar Juliana Cayetano and Jinggoy Estrada also continue to be the leaders, the survey showed.
Conducted from Feb. 24-28, the pre-election survey found 45 percent of the respondents voting for Roxas, Loren Legarda 28 percent, Jejomar Binay 17 percent, Bayani Fernando 3 percent, Eduardo Manzano 2 percent, Jose Sonza 1 percent, Perfecto Yasay 0.4 percent and Dominador Chipeco 0.4 percent. Three percent were undecided.
Compared to the Jan. 21-24 survey of the SWS, Roxas lost 4 points, Legarda and Manzano were steady, and Binay and Fernando gained 1 point each. As a result, Roxas’ lead over Legarda fell from 21 to 17, and his lead over Binay fell from 33 to 28.
The vote percentages of Manzano, Sonza, Yasay and Chipeco did not change significantly from January.
Revilla got 54 percent of the vote in the SWS survey, Cayetano 51 percent and Estrada 47 percent as they kept the top three spots in the race.
They are followed by Miriam Defensor Santiago 46 percent,. Franklin Drilon 45 percent, Ralph Recto (41 percent), Juan Ponce Enrile (40 percent), Vicente Sotto III 39 percent, and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 32 percent. Manuel Lapid and Sergio Osmeña III both had 31 percent and Gwendolyn Pimentel 27 percent.
The 12 leaders in the senatorial race include two each from Lakas-Kampi-CMD, the Nacionalista Party, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and the Liberal Party, one each from the People’s Reform Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, and PDP-Laban, and one independent.
From a list of 61 names shown to the respondents, nine candidates are statistically above the 13th place: Revilla, Cayetano, Estrada, Santiago, Drilon, Recto, Ponce Enrile, Sotto and Marcos.
The last three seats are being statistically contended by Lapid and Osmeña III, Pimentel and Teofisto Guingona III (25 percent).
Close behind are Jose De Venecia III and Rozzano Rufino Biazon, both 23 percent.
Much farther away away are Sonia Roco (18 percent), Alexander Lacson (16 percent) and Gilbert Cesar Remulla, Francisco Tatad, and Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel (14 percent each).
Compared to January, the new survey found Lapid and Pimentel displacing Guingona and De Venecia.