With latest Pulse Asia results, upset win in May 9 prexy polls seen near impossible

WITH barely five days before the May 9 national polls, pollster Pulse Asia is convinced that majority of the 65 million registered voters have already decided at this time, and the results of the elections will reflect the consistent survey results, all of which show former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as presidential frontrunner.

Based on Pulse Asia’s most recent and final pre-election survey where Marcos kept his huge lead against his rivals with 56-percent voter preference, it is highly likely that his win is indeed inevitable, the camp of Marcos pointed out on Tuesday.

In a radio interview over DZRH, Ana Maria Tabunda, Research Director of Pulse Asia, also insisted that she believes that the result of the survey could also be the result in the May 9 elections.

“Magbago man kaunti lang hindi na magkakaroon ng upset. Mahihirapan na talaga yung ibang contender na makahabol [Whatever change in results there might be will be minimal. The other contenders will really find it hard to catch up],” Tabunda disclosed.

When asked if the voting population has already decided, she answered “Parang ganun na nga po [It seems that is the case].”

Marcos recorded his 56-percent voter preference in the final Pulse Asia non-commissioned survey conducted on April 16 to 21 with 2,400 respondents.

The Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard bearer also obtained similar 56-percent voter preference in the March survey of Pulse Asia and stayed as the huge leader in the presidential derby with 33 percentage lead against his closest rival, Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni ” Robredo, who only scored 23 percent, a drop of 1 percent compared to her 24-percent voter preference last March.

Manny Pacquiao is in distant third with 7 percent, while Isko Moreno dropped to No. 4 position with 4 percent, and Ping Lacson is in 5th with 2 percent.

Tabunda added that of the 56percent voter preference of Marcos, majority of them claimed that they will not change their decision until the May 9 elections.

“80 percent are saying their vote for BBM will not change. So in my view, they won’t shift; that’s why his number stays there,” Tabunda explained partly in Filipino, referring to the no movement of survey numbers of the presidential candidates.

Earlier, Tabunda also revealed that if the 56 percent of Marcos were converted to votes, it is equivalent to about 36.5 million of the total 65 million registered voters in the country.

“Well, it’s only now that we’ve seen such a huge margin in our experience. This is the first time that a presidential candidate has attained majority voter preference,” Tabunda said during a previous interview.

She added that Marcos’s consistently high numbers are historic since it was the first time since they started conducting pre-election surveys that a presidential candidate has been able to maintain his 50plus percentage voter preference throughout the duration of the presidential race.