Duterte continues to soar in latest Pulse Asia poll

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte continued to outpace his rivals in the latest Pulse Asia Poll.

In the survey commissioned by ABS-CBN, Duterte garnered a 33 percent rating, 11 points ahead of his closest rival Grace Poe.

Poe, who got 22 percent, was statistically tied for second with administration bet Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, who posted 20 percent.

Vice President Jejomar Binay was fourth at 18 percent. Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago continued to trail at 2 percent.

The survey, which sampled 4,000 registered voters for a ±1.5% error margin at the 95% confidence level, was conducted from April 19 to 24, after Duterte's remarks about rape caused a firestorm.

Five percent of voters remained undecided.

The survey, which sampled 4,000 registered voters for a ±1.5 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level, was conducted from April 19 to 24, after Duterte's remarks about rape caused a firestorm.

The survey period, however, did not capture Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's allegation that Duterte owns P211 million in bank deposits, which was allegedly not declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth in 2014.

Reports about Duterte's supposed hidden fortune only made headlines on April 27, three days after Pulse Asia concluded its field work.

Regions, classes

Duterte was the top pick in Mindanao (58 percent) and of socioeconomic classes ABC and D (37 percent and 33 percent, respectively).

He shared the lead with Poe in Metro Manila (34 percent and 26 percent, respectively) and Class E (31 percent and 24 percent, respectively).

Poe was the most preferred candidate in the rest of Luzon (29 percent) while in the Visayas, the top choices for president are Roxas (37 percent) and Duterte (32 percent).

Alternative candidate

Meanwhile, should their original candidate end up not continuing his/her presidential campaign for whatever reason, a third (33 percent) of registered voters said they would shift their support to Poe.

Poe was followed by Binay at 16 percent and Duterte and Roxas, who were both tied at 12 percent.

Six percent of voters indicated Santiago as their alternative candidate.—JST, GMA News