Legarda trails front-running Roxas by 9%

from Manila Standard Today

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2010/march/8/news2.isx&d=2010/march/8

LIBERAL Party candidate Senator Manuel Roxas II continued to lead the vice presidential race, beating out his closest rival, Senator Loren Legarda, by 39 percent to 30 percent in the latest Manila Standard poll.

The survey, conducted between Feb. 20 and 26, asked 2,500 registered voters to cast their ballots for the positions of President, vice president and senators in a way that simulated actual voting in the coming automated elections in May.

The February results for vice president showed the same pattern as January’s, said Manila Standard resident pollster Pedro Laylo Jr.

Former Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay received 15 percent, while former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando and administration candidate Edu Manzano both had 4 percent.

Some 6 percent of the respondents were undecided.

Data by major areas somewhat reflected the same voting pattern as that of the presidential race. Roxas had big leads in Metro Manila, South Luzon and the Visayas. Roxas and Legarda were tied in North and Central Luzon.

Roxas’ lead over Legarda tapered off in Mindanao, while Binay gained a few percentage points in North, Central and South Luzon, which had the largest number of undecided voters.

Manzano picked up some gains in Metro Manila.

There were slight differences in patterns by economic class for the vice presidential race compared to the presidential race, Laylo said.

Roxas was overwhelmingly favored among the Class ABC, where Legarda lost some ground and Binay gained. Roxas and Legarda were tied among the very poor.

Roxas led Legarda in all age groups and held commanding leads in the age 18 to 24 group (7 percentage points) and the 45 and above group (16 percentage points).

The Manila Standard poll was conducted among a statistically representative sample of 2,500 registered voters nationwide, with 300 respondents in the National Capital Region, 550 in North and Central Luzon, 540 in South Luzon and Bicol, 510 in the Visayas, and 600 in Mindanao. This distribution of sample sizes reflects the latest proportion of registered voters based on February 2010 data from the Commission on Elections.

The error due to sampling for results based on the national sample was at plus or minus 2 percentage points. The error for subgroups was higher.

The registered voters were asked their intention to vote and only those who signified they definitely will vote in the May elections were asked to accomplish a ballot and shade the oval spaces corresponding to their choices