Presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA / INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON.
Presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has cemented his hold on the frontrunner position in the May presidential race, according to the results of the latest ABS-CBN survey conducted by Pulse Asia.
Duterte got 32 percent of 4,000 respondents to pick him as their next president, establishing a clear lead over second placer and former opinion poll frontrunner Senator Grace Poe, who got 25 percent.
The mayor鈥檚 number increased by two points from his previous rating of 30 percent in an earlier March 29 to April 3 poll. Poe鈥檚 number remained the same.
READ: Duterte overtakes Poe to pace Pulse Asia poll
The survey, which has a margin of error of plus minus 1.5 percent, showed that the tough-talking mayor was way ahead of the neophyte senator and his other rivals.
The poll was conducted from April 5 to 10鈥攄ays before he uttered his controversial statement on the rape-slay of Australian lay missionary Jacqueline Hamill, which unleashed a social media firestorm.
READ: Duterte foes pounce on mayor鈥檚 rape joke
Vice President Jejomar Binay and administration bet former Interior Secretary Manuel 鈥淢ar鈥� Roxas II shared third place with 20 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Binay鈥檚 number was聽 the same if compared to the previous poll, while Roxas suffered a one-point dip.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago only had 1 percent of respondents rooting for her鈥� one point lower than the 2 percent she got in the previous survey. IDL