Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Grace Poe are now in a tight race for the top position in the country based on the latest survey conducted by a group听that endorsed Poe鈥檚 bid.
The survey conducted by the Magdalo Group听from December 9 to 11 showed that听Duterte听received 31.9听 percent听of the votes while听 Poe got 26 percent.
Following Duterte and Poe were Vice President Jejomar Binay with 23.6 percent; former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas with 13.5 percent; Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago with 4 percent; and former Ambassador Roy Se帽eres with 0.1 percent.
The survey,听conducted among almost 3000 respondents听nationwide, had a margin of error of 1.8%.
鈥淚n this re-election survey, which was conducted last December 9-11, we provided respondents with the list of known candidates for president/vice president, and they were asked 鈥業f elections would be held today, who among the following candidates would you vote for?鈥� a statement from the office of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday quoted Magdalo Partylist Representative听 Francisco Ashley Acedillo听 as saying
鈥淥ne of the observations during the survey is that a significant number of respondents presumed that Senator Poe was already disqualified in running for President, or were asking if she was already disqualified. Since our researchers are not allowed to engage with the respondents to avoid influencing their answers, this issue was not clarified to them,鈥� Acedillo explained.
听鈥淲e expect that these figures and the candidates鈥� ranking will continue to notably change, especially when the Comelec (Commission on Elections)听 en banc and the Supreme Court, eventually, will release their decision on Sen. Poe鈥檚 and Mayor Duterte鈥檚 candidacy,鈥� he further said.
Both听 Poe and听Duterte are facing听 disqualification cases at the听 Comelec. The two divisions of the Comelec听had听already ruled听 to disqualify听Poe pending appeal at the听 Comelec en banc.
In听 the听 vice presidential survey, Senator Francis 鈥淐hiz鈥� Escudero remained听the voters鈥� top choice听 with 28.8 percent, followed by听 Senator听 Ferdinand 鈥淏ongbong鈥� Marcos Jr. with 22.3听percent, and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano听with听 16.6 percent.
The statement noted that Cayetano听 was the听鈥渂iggest gainer鈥� in the latest survey, while听Escudero and Marcos鈥櫶齨umbers had declined based from previous听surveys.
Camarines Sur Representative听Leni Robredo came in 4th with 11.7 percent; Trillanes IV with 10.6 percent; and Senator Gregorio Honasan with 8 percent.