By LYJAH TIFFANY BONZO, GMA News
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Former senator Grace Poe and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano emerged as the most preferred senatorial candidates among Filipino adults for the May 2028 elections, according to the latest survey by Pulse Asia.
In the survey conducted from September 17 to 24, 2026, 15 candidates emerged as probable winners among the 66 individuals included in the senatorial preference poll.
Most of those with a statistical chance of winning are either former or incumbent members of Congress, Pulse Asia said.
Poe led the list with 50.2%, placing her in a statistical ranking of first to second, followed by Cayetano with 46.5%, placing him first to fourth.
Senator Robin Padilla (45.9%) and Senator Raffy Tulfo (44.4%) shared the second to fourth places.
Other potential winners completing the top half of the list were Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte (37.2%), former senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao (36.5%) and Senator Loren Legarda (33%).
Rounding out the 15 probable winners were Makati City Mayor Nancy Binay, Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, media personality Ben Tulfo, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) head Mark Lapid, detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada, showbiz celebrity Willie Revillame and former AnaKalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor.
Meanwhile, 3.6% of respondents had yet to decide on their senatorial preferences, while 2.8% said they would not support any of the possible candidates. Another 0.9% declined to state their opinion.
Pulse Asia interviewed 2,400 representative adults nationwide face-to-face for the survey. The survey had a margin of error of ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
For results in each of the four areas covered by the survey — Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao — the margin of error was ±4 percentage points, meaning the actual figures could be 4 points higher or lower than the survey results. —MCG, GMA News
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