Marcos Jr. maintains lead in latest Pulse Asia survey while Robredo remains at second place
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has maintained his lead in Pulse Asia's latest pre-election survey, with vice president Leni Robredo barely budging as well at second place.
In the survey conducted from April 16 to 21 and released May 2, Marcos Jr. got 56% of votes among 2,400 respondents, keeping his lead in last April's survey.
The results came on the heels of the Commission on Elections First Division dismissing the final disqualification case against the late dictator's son and namesake.
During the conduct of the survey, several groups have also called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to collect the Marcoses' P203 estate tax.
Robredo ranked a distant 23%, dropping 1% from her 24% score last April.
The April survey, where Robredo's numbers significantly increased from 15% to 24%, had captured her March 20 campaign rally, her biggest rally at the time, with a reported 180,000 attendees according to organizers and 137,000 according to the police.
Beyond the survey period, Robredo's birthday rally on April 23 reportedly drew another record crowd. Organizers said the event had 400,000 attendees, but the police said it had 80,000 at most.
The latest Pulse Asia survey also saw Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso sliding down to fourth spot as Sen. Manny Pacquiao takes over the third spot.
Pacquiao got 7% in May's Pulse Asia survey results, a 1% improvement from his 6% last April.
Domagoso, meanwhile, had 4%, half of his 8% in the previous survey.
Sen. Ping Lacson maintained his 2% score from last time.
During the survey period, a joint press conference was held on April 17, Easter Sunday, by Moreno and running mate Dr. Willie Ong; Lacson and running mate Senate President Tito Sotto; and ex-defense secretary Norberto Gonzales, who is also running for president.
The candidates emphasized during the presscon that despite trailing in the surveys, they won't be backing out of the race. Domagoso, however, also called on Robredo to withdraw from the elections. Lacson and Gonzales later distanced themselves from Domagoso's statement, saying the latter made the call to Robredo on his own.
Pacquiao was supposed to attend the controversial event but didn't show up. He later criticized his fellow candidates' call on Robredo, saying the original plan was to talk about unity and clean elections.
Other presidential bets—Ernie Abella, Faisal Mangondato, Leody de Guzman, Gonzales, and Jose Montemayor—all posted numbers below 1%.
Pulse Asia reported an error margin of ± 2% nationwide, with a confidence level of 95%.