Villar statistically tied with Noynoy in new SWS survey

Senators Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr. continued to engage in a neck and neck race for the country’s top post, and were statistically tied two months before the May 10 elections, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The SWS poll, commissioned by BusinessWorld, showed that while Aquino remained the top pick among presidential aspirants, Villar appeared to be catching up.

 

It noted that while both Aquino and Villar had lost ground, the cost was "more substantial" for Aquino, whose overall score slid by six points to 36 percent.

Villar’s ratings dropped by a percentage point to 34 percent, the survey added.

"The gap between the two falls within the ±2.2-percent margin of error used in the Feb. 24-28 survey, which used face-to-face interviews of 2,100 registered voters nationwide," according to a BusinessWorld report on Tuesday.

It was the first SWS-BW poll conducted since the start of the national campaign period on February 9.

The survey used a new system, where instead of the respondent responding orally, they were provided “ballots" they had to mark in private and then deposit in a container.

All lists on the ballot were in alphabetical order and included nicknames as will be practiced by the Commission on Elections on election day.

“Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino ang pinaka-malamang ninyong iboboto bilang Presidente, Bise-Presidente, at mga Senador ng Pilipinas? Narito ang listahan ng mga kandidato. Paki-shade o itiman po ang naa-angkop na oval katabi ng pangalan ng taong pinaka-malamang ninyong iboboto (If the elections were held today, whom would you most probably vote for as President, Vice-President, and Senators of the Philippines? Here is a list of candidates. Please shade the oval beside the name of the persons you would most likely vote for)," the question went.

In addition to those who declined to vote, did not choose or pick more than one presidential candidate, the 4 percent in the "undecided" category included a small proportion — 1.6 percent — of ballots where the marks could not be read by an optical scanning machine.

“Assignment of the improperly marked ballots to the voters’ apparent choices would raise the national lead of Aquino over Villar by only 0.1 percent," the SWS said.

The results were in contrast to a February 21-25 Pulse Asia survey released last Friday showing Aquino pulling away from Villar.

The Pulse Asia tally showed 36 percent for Aquino against 29 percent for Villar.

BusinessWorld quoted the SWS as saying that Aquino’s six-point fall had come on account of drops in all four geographical study areas — seven points in Balance Luzon (Luzon minus Metro Manila), six in Mindanao, five in the Visayas and three in Metro Manila.

Villar lost 6 percentage points in Metro Manila, two in Balance Luzon and one in Mindanao, but picked up five in the Visayas to trim his overall slide to just a point.

By area, the SWS said Aquino remained ahead in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, while Villar was in front in Balance Luzon.

• GMANews.Tv