Noynoy and Villar ties the survey

Senator Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III and Senator Manuel “Manny” B. Villar, Jr. have virtually the same voter preferences as they lead other presidential candidates in Pulse Asia's latest survey.

With about four months to go before the May 10, 2010 elections, presidential candidates Senator Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino (Liberal Party) and Senator Manuel “Manny” B. Villar (Nacionalista Party) are tied for the presidency, with Senator Aquino registering 37% of voter preferences and Senator Villar 35%. The only other presidential candidate with a double-digit preference is former President Joseph Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) at 12%. The other candidates register voter preferences of at most 5%. Less than one in ten Filipinos (6%) does not have a preferred presidential candidate at this time. (See Table 1, Distribution of presidential preferences by Region.)

Across areas, Senator Aquino takes the lead in the National Capital Region, with 38% support against Senator Villar’s 24%. The two front-runners register virtually the same preference in Balance Luzon (Aquino, 37%; Villar, 36%); Visayas (Aquino, 41%; Villar, 38%); and, Mindanao (Villar, 36%; Aquino, 33%). (See Table 1, Distribution of presidential preferences by Region.)

Across socio-demographic groups and taking the error margins for the subgroups into account, Senator Aquino leads among Class D (40%) and among the elderly aged 65 years and over (42%). On the other hand, Senator Villar enjoys the lead in the 25-34 age group (42%). Voter preferences for the two leading candidates are essentially the same across the other socioeconomic classes and age groups. (See Table 2, Distribution of presidential vote preference by socio-economic groups.)

Compared to the December 2009 survey, support for Senator Villar improves by 12 percentage points, while preference for Senator Aquino and former President Estrada decline by 8 and 7 percentage points, respectively. Voter preferences for the other presidential candidates, on the other hand, do not register marked changes between the two survey periods. (See Table 3—Comparative Presidential Preference, October 2009-January 2010.)

Voters are as likely to say, based on a predetermined set of reasons to choose from, that they opted for a candidate because he/she is not corrupt or has a clean record (24%) as, he/she cares for the poor (24%). Other reasons cited for preferring a candidate pertain to the ability to do something (16%), helping others (11%), being a good person (9%) and experience in governance (6%) (See Table 4—Reasons for voting for presidential preference.