Grace Poe tops VP bet polls – Pulse Asia

Sen. Grace Poe – Llamanzares. Photo from Poe’s official Facebook page.

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Grace Poe fronts the vice-presidential race for the 2016 elections, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey conducted last September 8 to 15.

Among 11 potential candidates included in the survey, Senator Poe appears as the top choice with 31 percent of Filipinos naming her as their preference for vice president in the impending May 2016 elections.

According to the poll, Poe has large plurality voter preferences in just about every geographic region and every socioeconomic grouping.

Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes believes that Grace Poe’s standing is a combination of her work at the Senate and the legacy of her father, defeated 2004 presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.

“I’m not surprised. Grace Poe has already been talked about as a running-mate of people eyeing 2016. Grace Poe carries the name of her father. She hasn’t done anything that will jeopardize her career,” he said.

The neophyte senator, however, has already said that she is not running for higher office in 2016 since she had just been elected senator in 2013.

Ranking second in the list, is Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero with 19 percent. He is the only other contender who acquired a double-digit vice-presidential voter preference.

However, Senator Escudero reiterates that he still has no plans for 2016.

“Wala pa akong balak. Masyado pang maaga. Lahat ng nagdedeklara hindi rin naman siguradong tutuloy. Wala pang siguradong kandidato. (I don’t have plans yet. It’s still too early. All those declaring [candidacy] are also not sure to continue. No candidate’s sure yet.)” he said.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with 9 percent, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV with 7 percent, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with 6 percent, Vilma Santos with 6 percent, Jinggoy Estrada with 5 percent, Franklin Drilon  with 5 percent, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. with 3 percent, Leni Robredo with 3 percent and Manny Pangilinan with 2 percent are the other prospective vice-presidential candidates included in the survey. They all have less than 10 percent support from respondents.

The Pulse Asia survey has a total of 1,200 respondents, 18 years old and above. The poll has a ± 3% error margin at the 95% confidence level.

The same survey also shows Vice-President Jejomar Binay still leading the presidential race with 31 percent despite dropping 10 percent as compared to the previous survey done.

Below is the complete list of vice-presidential preferences:

Document courtesy of Pulse Asia; with report from Cyra Moraleda