STRATPOLLS on Friday took to task the campaign staff of Lakas-Kampi presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro for making it appear that the polling firm was leaning in favor of a candidate.
“I deny having noted Teodoro’s growing conversion across all sectors when the truth is that he remains almost stationary and is behind the frontrunners in all sectors, meaning the age brackets, socio-eco and the major language groups,” StratPOLLS Executive Director Alfredo Sureta said.
He was referring to a news report in which Teodoro’s campaign spokesman Mike Toledo cited a StratPOLLS’ survey on Teodoro’s supposed “surge” in the presidential race.
“The latest StratPOLLS survey clearly shows that the youth votes are being contested by LP candidate (Benigno) Noynoy Aquino and NP candidate (Manuel) Manny Villar who earned 38 percent and 32 percent respectively while Teodoro earned 11 percent even behind former President Joseph Estrada’s 13 percent in this sector,” Sureta said.
In the socioeconomic class, particularly Class E, Teodoro earned 9 percent, behind frontrunner Aquino’s 40 percent, he added.
Sureta said that among language groups, Villar commands the Ilocano-speaking provinces with 32 percent, while Teodoro earned only 6 percent despite being the only Ilocano-speaking candidate.
The StratPOLLS official also corrected a statement attributed to him that Teodoro’s rating climbed from 4 percent in their January survey to 11 percent in February. “In fact, Lakas stalwart Prospero Pichay was correct when he remarked that the campaign television messages of Teodoro were not connecting,” he said.
He said Teodoro’s rating is “stagnant,” having earned 11 percent in both the January and February polls.
Sureta stressed that StratPOLLS is not an ally of any political personality or group. “It was established as the third alternative to the leading polling firms of the country, and it is the in-house research group of our sister companies, the Business Mirror, Philippines Graphic, DWIZ and Home Radio FM,” he said.