Reelectionists and incumbent officials' kin shared the lineup of 12 senators that would have won if elections were held in the last week of November, a new Pulse Asia survey showed.
Senators Francis "Chiz" Escudero and Loren Legarda sat on top of the list of senatorial preferences based on a survey of 1,200 adults aged 18 and above from Nov. 23 to 29.
Escudero would have notched the votes of 74.1 percent of respondents if the midterm polls were during the survey period, while Legarda would have also won a seat with the votes of 69.3 percent of respondents.
"[T]he rest of the list of probable winners is evenly split with five candidates coming from the coalition led by the Liberal Party (LP) and five others belonging to the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA)," Pulse Asia said.
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Another reelectionist, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, landed in the 3rd to 4th spot with 60.1 percent of respondents saying they would have voted for him.
Meanwhile, San Juan City Representative JV Ejercito Estrada, whose brother Jinggoy is also in the Senate, was ranked 3rd to 6th with 57 percent voter preference.
Sharing 4th to 7th places are Cagayan Representative Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr., the son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (53.2 percent); and former Las Piñas Representative Cynthia Villar, the wife of Senator Manny Villar (52.2 percent).
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Senator Aquilino Pimentel got an overall voter preference of 50.2 percent, ranking 5th to 8th.
His colleague Senator Gringo Honasan, meanwhile, was ranked 7th to 12th with an overall voter preference of 44.9 percent.
Rounding out the list of the 12 probable winners are Senator Antonio Trillanes IV (43.2 percent), Vice-President Jejomar Binay's daughter Nancy (41.3 percent), Aurora Rep. Edgardo Angara (40.8 percent) and former Senator Miguel Zubiri (40.5 percent), who all shared the 8th to 12th spots.
Included in the survey, meanwhile, but unable to make it to the top 12 are:
Former Senator Jamby Madrigal (34.4 percent)
Former Senator Dick Gordon (29.7 percent)
Former Senator Ramon "Jun" Magsaysay, Jr. (28.8 percent)
Bam Aquino, the President's cousin (27.9 percent)
Former MTRCB Chairman Grace Poe-Llamanzares (24.7 percent)
Former Akbayan Party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros (21.2 percent)
Former Senator Ernesto Maceda (16.7 percent)
Former Tarlac governor Margarita "Tingting" Couangco (14.2 percent)
Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn (8.8 percent)
Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay (7.7 percent)
Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Teddy Casino (5.3 percent)
Samson Alcantara (4 percent)
Mon Montano (3.3 percent)
Former presidential aspirant JC de los Reyes (2.7 percent)
Bal Falcone (1.9 percent)
Dick Penson (1.8 percent)
Greco Beljica (0.7 percent)
Marwil Llasos (0.7 percent)
Christian Seneres (0.5 percent)
Less than four out of 10 Filipinos (39 percent) have decided on a complete slate of 12 senators to vote for in the midterm elections on May 2013..
"With about a half a year before the next midterm elections, Filipinos are already naming nine preferred senatorial bets on average," Pulse Asia said.