Pulse Asia's October 2009 Nationwide Survey on Presidential Preferences for the May 2010 Elections

PRESIDENTIAL RACE: Senator Benigno C. Aquino III leads all surveyed presidential hopefuls/presidentiables by a big margin. The reason most-often cited in expressing a voting preference for a possible presidential candidate is the latter's clean public record ("malinis") or, alternatively, not being corrupt "hindi kurakot".

With a little over half a year before the May 2010 elections, and less than a month before the filing of certificates of candidacy, the electoral scene saw some changes with the entry of Senator Benigno C. Aquino III into the presidential race. In October 2009, 44% of Filipinos express support for the presidential bid of Senator Aquino while in second place is Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr. (19%). The only other possible presidential candidates to score double-digit voter preferences are Senator Francis G. Escudero (13%) and former President Joseph Estrada (11%). The other individuals included in the presidential probe register voter preferences of at most 4%. Less than one in ten Filipinos (4%) does not have a favored presidential candidate at the moment.

Across geographic areas and socio-economic classes, Senator Aquino enjoys majority voter preferences in the best-off Class ABC (51%) and the Visayas (53%). Meanwhile, big pluralities of those in the rest of Luzon and Mindanao (both at 41%) and Classes D and E (both at 44%), as well as a near majority of Metro Manilans (47%), would elect Senator Aquino to the presidency if the May 2010 elections were held at the time of the survey.

With Senator Aquino joining the presidential race, the other personalities who used to be in the lead experienced a decline in their voter preferences. Between August and October 2009, the biggest drop in electoral support is recorded by Vice-President Noli L. de Castro (-12 percentage points). The voter preferences of Senator Villar and former President Estrada also decline during this period (-6 and -8 percentage points, respectively).

Around two in ten Filipinos (21.2%) are voting for a particular presidential candidate because he/she is not corrupt or is malinis – a reason cited by fewer respondents in May and August 2009 (7.1% and 6.3%, respectively). It may be recalled that in May 2009, the leading reason for voting was a candidate’s being helpful to others (34.0%) while in August 2009, the top reasons cited were a candidate’s having many accomplishments (25.3%) and his/her being pro-poor (20.3%). Currently, 14% are motivated to vote for a presidential candidate because of his/her many accomplishments, 12.2% cite a candidate’s being pro-poor, and 12.0% favor one candidate over another because he/she helps others, with 6.6% mentioning being helpful to overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) in particular.

In contrast, the less often-mentioned reasons for electing a presidential candidate include the good reputation of his/her family (4.2%) and his/her being virtuous or mabait (3.7%), knowledgeable and experienced (3.6%), and religious (3.2%). A host of other reasons are mentioned by 15.0% of Filipinos including, among others, a candidate’s being intelligent (3.0%), approachable (2.5%), and trustworthy (2.2%).

Source: http://pulseasia.com.ph