Villar cuts Noynoy’s lead in latest DzRH survey

NACIONALISTA Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar has cut the lead of his closest rival, Liberal Party’s Sen. Benigno Aquino III, to just 7.3 percentage points – from a seemingly formidable 21.1 percentage point in December – in the latest pre-election survey commissioned by broadcasting giant Manila Broadcasting Company and its flagship station DzRH.

The latest survey, conducted from February 15 to 16, showed that Aquino’s lead trimmed down by 13.8 percentage points from the earlier survey.

Aquino garnered 37.1 percent of surveyed respondents, with Villar gaining ground in second place with 29.8 percent in what MBC-DzRH said was its biggest survey so far with 7,461 respondents.

In December, Aquino led by 21.1 percentage points by registering a rating of 45.7 percent against 24.6 percent of Villar in a survey that polled 6,788 respondents.

The recent survey also indicated an eroding support base for Aquino as his figures dropped 8.6 percentage points while Villar surged 5.2 percentage points.

The trend is seen in almost all of the surveys of reputable polling firms, where Villar is steadily gaining ground and Aquino losing support.

The latest MBC-DzRH survey also showed Villar leading Aquino in Regions 1, 7, 8, and 12.
The survey was conducted by L.A. Research Inc, as commissioned by MBC-DzRH and used the strength of the broadcasting giant’s 200 stations nationwide, with its 24/7 feeds heard throughout the Asia Pacific region.

It said researchers tapped male and female registered voters at least 18 years old, coming from 25 A, B, C, D and E households per randomly chosen barangay in the different regions.

It added that the survey results were weighed against the voting population of each province with a margin of error is at plus/minus 1.1 percent.

The broadcasting station plans to commission one more survey prior to the elections./PN