Reelectionist senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe share the lead in the latest Pulse Asia survey that also saw incumbent Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito barging into the Magic 12 and former Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino slipping out of it.
In the survey conducted last April 10-14 among 1,800 respondents, Pulse Asia found 14 of the candidates running for senator having a statistical chance of winning in the May 2019 elections.
Almost all of the probable winners are current or former members of Congress and among them, 10 are running under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago coalition, while the other probable winners, one is running as an independent candidate and the other three are running under three different political parties—Nationalist People’s Coalition, United Nationalist Alliance, and Liberal Party.
Sharing first and second places are Villar (51.7 percent) and Poe (50.5 percent). Villar was previously on the second spot in the March survey, while Poe remained on top.
With his voter preference of 45.7 percent, former Senator Lito Lapid finds himself in third to fourth places, up from fifth to eighth places in March.
Taguig City Rep. Pia Cayetano (43.9 percent) has a statistical ranking of third to sixth places, an improvement from fourth to sixth places, previously.
Close behind them are former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Go (40.8 percent) who is ranked fourth to eighth and Senator Juan Edgardo Angara (40.4 percent) who has a statistical ranking of fourth to ninth places. Both are down from third to fifth places and third to fourth places, respectively.
Completing the list of probable winners are former Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. (38.1 percent, fifth to ninth places, improving from seventh to 10th places in March), former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa (36.7 percent, fifth to ninth places, from sixth to ninth places), Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay (36.2 percent, sixth to ninth places, maintaining the same ranking), Senator Aquilino Pimentel III (31.8 percent, 10th to 14th places, from 11th to 16th), Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos (29.6 percent, 10th to 14th places or down from ninth to 12th places in March), former Senator Jinggoy Estrada (28.8 percent, 10th to 14th places, from 10th to 16th), Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV (28.8 percent, 10th to 14th places, from 11th to 16th), and Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito (28.1 percent, 10th to 16th places, from 16th to 17th).
Former Senator Sergio Osmeña III (24.6 percent, 14th to 17th places) and former Senator Manuel Roxas II (24.5 percent, 14th to 17th places), were shut out from the winner’s circle. Osmeña placed 11th to 16th, while Roxas ranked 11th to 17th in the March survey.
Tolentino, who placed 10th to 16th in March, is now at 15th to 17th places, bumping him off the magic 12.
