With less than two weeks to go before the Philippine national elections, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte manages to maintain a massive lead over Senator Grace Poe, her closest opponent in the presidential derby.
This is according to the latest Pulso ng Bayan survey conducted by Pulse Asia.
The survey conducted from April 16 to 20 established that Duterte, the sole presidential candidate from Mindanao, leads with 35% out of 1,800 registered voters who prefers him to be the next president. His rating skyrocketed by 11 points since he was only at 24% during the last survey conducted March 12 to 18.
Poe, who previously led the surveys, lost 4 points from her 27% in March while former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay are statistically tied in the 3rd spot with 17% and 16%. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is at 2%.
Duterte managed to stay ahead of his rivals despite his recent controversy surrounding a morbid joke about an Australian missionary who was raped and killed in Davao back in 1989.
Meanwhile, Duterte believes that his opponents will work harder and try to bring him down during the remaining days leading towards the elections on May 9.
“If they will pull me down, they will also be pulling each other down — just like crabs. No different from the crabs that I know. It is understandable. This is politics. These attacks will be very, very toxic,” Duterte said in an interview.
Leoncio Evasco Jr., Duterte’s national campaign manager, added “They can campaign together against Duterte and intensify their attacks, but in the end, we are confident as we are ready that Duterte will be the last man standing.”
Evasco continued, “This is because Duterte has the support of the millions and millions of Filipinos who are sick and tired of the rotten government ruled by the oligarchs and run by the same politicians.”