BIRON PULLS AWAY IN GUBERNATORIAL POLLS

ILOILO fourth district Rep. Ferjenel Biron has pulled away from his rival in the May 2019 gubernatorial race, according to a public opinion study conducted by Metro Manila-based firm Philippine Survey and Research Center (PSRC).

Conducted on Feb 16-21, 2019, the PSRC survey made face-to-face personal interviews (aided by structured questionnaire and visual aids) with 500 respondents in Iloilo province (100 respondents per congressional district).

The respondents, which were selected through the multi-stage area probability sampling, included males and females 18 years old and above who are registered voters for the May 2019 elections.

Based on the PSRC survey commissioned by the local Nacionalista Party (NP), Biron got the nod of 52% of the respondents while third district Rep. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. has 38%.

Another candidate got 1% while the undecided is 9%.

Per district, 66% of the respondents in the first district are for Biron while 20% are for Defensor. The race is close in the second district with Biron getting 44% while Defensor has 42%.

In the third district, Defensor is ahead with 72% while Biron got 25% (the district is Defensor’s political base).

As expected, Biron got the most nods in the fourth district with 73% while Defensor only has 18%.

Biron also dominated the vote-rich fifth district with 55% against Defensor’s 34%.

The PSRC survey indicates that Biron is pulling away from Defensor even before the campaign period for the local elections begins on March 29.

The trend is validated if compared with two previous surveys conducted by Iloilo-based Random Access Consultants, Inc. (RACI).

In the RACI survey conducted on July 25 to 29, 2018, Defensor was comfortably ahead with 60.7% voter preference against Biron’s 32.2%.

But in the Dec 8 to 14, 2018 survey by the same firm, Biron erased Defensor’s lead after getting 47.2% of the respondents against the latter’s 51.5%. Since the gap between the two candidates is within the ± 3 percent margin of error, the race was statistically tied during the said survey period.

Founded in 1974, PSRC is into social research, quantitative and qualitative researches, market strategy, branding/brand experience, innovation, and communication. From 12 employees with one client 44 years ago, the firm has grown to “one of the leading custom research companies in the country with a hundred specialists on board and a wide-reaching roster of local and global blue-chip clients.”

The firm also has over 200,000 consumers each year, continuously adding to a collective knowledgebase of over 200 years experience.

 

VICE GUBERNATORIAL RACE

An exciting race is shaping up in the vice gubernatorial race between incumbent Vice. Gov. Christine “Tingting” Garin and Mayor Niel “Beng” Tupas III, the PSRC survey indicated.

Garin got 47% of the respondents while Tupas scored 42%.

The first lady vice-governor of the province trounced Tupas in her bailiwick in the first district with 70% of the respondents. She also got the most nods in the 3^rd district (51%) and the 4^th district (55%).

Tupas, on the other hand, is the runaway winner in the fifth district (71%) while notching 41% in the second district against Garin’s 38%.