Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — There can only be one president. So why ask people for three names in a survey?
A number of political analysts had this question in mind after seeing the new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed Sen. Grace Poe topping the list of “best leaders to succeed President Benigno Aquino III.”
Related: Poe still leads poll, Roxas overtakes Binay – SWS
“Kasi ‘pag in-add up mo… hindi siya magiging 100 percent. Important mag-add up sa 100 percent kasi you’re only going to choose one president,” Prof. Edmund Tayao, a political analyst, said.
“Para sa akin inconclusive yung ranking nila kasi tatlo yung pinili eh,” he added.
Some questioned the big jump in the ratings of Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Manuel Roxas II, especially since the survey was done when the administration was under attack for many things, such as the bad traffic in Metro Manila.
They admit though that Aquino’s endorsement could have boosted Roxas’s ratings.
18-percentage-point rise
The rating of the LP bet jumped by 18 percentage points, taking the second spot from Vice President Jejomar Binay, whose ratings went up just by one point.
Another political analyst Ramon Casiple commented that any criticism “would impact negatively” on Roxas’s candidacy. But it didn’t happen in this case.
Meanwhile, political science professor Temario Rivera said Roxas has some explaining to do.
“Si Mar talaga needs a lot of explaining dahil plus 18 eh, napakalaki talaga yung surge na yan.”
Survey on best leaders
The SWS explained that the survey does not intend to show people’s preferred president, as it only intends to identify people’s choices.
SWS research specialist Leo Laroza stressed that even the question posed to the respondents does not directly ask who they would vote for. The poll agency added that the survey was non-commissioned.
“[T]he intentions for this question is really just to see who are in the people’s minds… it’s not about who you will vote for, it’s about who they think are the best leaders,” Laroza said.
“The idea is to give more chance — not just limit the respondent to just give one person… it is in this manner that we get to see the support base of some people.”
‘Battle of platforms’
If anything, Tayao said, the survey could help the campaign team of each candidate to calibrate their strategies.
But primarily, he said it shows two things: Binay has a steady support base, while Poe and Roxas have a similar one which means they have to work more to distinguish themselves from each other.
Both appear to be representing the “Daang Matuwid” campaign which some believe will just split votes for the administration and effectively benefit Binay.
“Ang lalabas talaga dito, it’s more a question of tangible programs. It will now be a battle of platforms… and by platforms we’re not just talking about motherhood or very general statements,” Tayao said.
The SWS explained that survey respondents actually turned in about 30 to 40 names. But the agency decided not to publish those who got a rating of less than 0.5 percent.
The survey showed that the presidential race could go down to the three.
