MANILA - Name recall is helping some politicians get good standing in the list of preferred presidential candidates for the 2022 general elections, a private pollster said Monday.
"I think what's driving most of the voting pre-election preference at this point has really been name recall. It's not so much their record because they are not in any way disseminated," Pulse Asia president Ronald Holmes told ANC.
In a pre-election survey conducted by the pollster from February 22 to March 3, 2021 among 2,400 respondents, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is the early frontrunner for the top post, garnering 27 percent voter preference.
Other candidates in the survey are former senator Bongbong Marcos (13 percent), Sen. Grace Poe and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (12 percent), Sen. Manny Pacquiao (11 percent), Vice President Leni Robredo (7 percent), Sen. Christopher "Bong" Go (5 percent), former Vice President Jejomar Binay (3 percent), Sen. Panfilo Lacson (2 percent) and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (2 percent).
Holmes said some politicians were included in the respondents' political preferences due to popularity.
"There are a number of people who are really more nationally prominent or we can say that the public is much more familiar with these individuals relative to all the other individuals," he said.
As to Duterte's case, Holmes said her father's popularity boosted her standing in the survey.
"You can say that there is a level of support for Sara that comes largely from people who support the President," he said.
Holmes noted that Duterte did not receive the same level of support her father had.
"Sara is only getting 1 out of 4 that means that some people who may be approving and trusting of the President are expressing preference for other individuals rather than the daughter herself," he said.
Duterte was the most preferred presidential candidate in her home region Mindanao with 60 percent, followed by those in the Visayas with 21 percent, and Balance Luzon with 17 percent. She was least preferred among respondents in Metro Manila with 12 percent in the survey.
The pollster, however, stressed "it's still quite early" to say on what would happen for next year's polls.
"One of the things we have not really seen [and] has not started yet would be either an informal of formal campaign when any of the potential candidates would communicate essentially what they have done and what they intend to do," Holmes said.
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