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 that endorsed Poe’s bid.



The survey conducted by the Magdalo Group from December 9 to 11 showed that Duterte received 31.9 percent of the votes while Poe got 26 percent.



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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 Señeres with 0.1 percent.



The survey, conducted among almost 3000 respondents nationwide, had a margin of error of 1.8%.



“In 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 ‘If elections would be held today, who among the following candidates would you vote for?” a statement from the office of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday quoted Magdalo Partylist Representative Francisco Ashley Acedillo as saying



“One 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,” Acedillo explained.

“We expect that these figures and the candidates’ ranking will continue to notably change, especially when the Comelec (Commission on Elections) en banc and the Supreme Court, eventually, will release their decision on Sen. Poe’s and Mayor Duterte’s candidacy,” he further said.



Both Poe and Duterte are facing disqualification cases at the Comelec. The two divisions of the Comelec had already ruled to disqualify Poe pending appeal at the Comelec en banc.

In the vice presidential survey, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero remained the voters’ top choice with 28.8 percent, followed by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. with 22.3 percent, and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 16.6 percent.



The statement noted that Cayetano was the “biggest gainer” in the latest survey, while Escudero and Marcos’ numbers had declined based from previous surveys.



Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo came in 4th with 11.7 percent; Trillanes IV with 10.6 percent; and Senator Gregorio Honasan with 8 percent.

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