Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) President and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez is predicting a historic victory for the Bongbong Marcos-Sara Duterte tandem after seeing their performance in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
“Based on these latest numbers, BBM and Mayor Inday Sara would the first candidates for president and vice president in our recent history who could win by a majority vote, instead of a mere plurality,” Romualdez said.
The Pulse Asia poll results showed that Marcos was preferred by 60 percent of respondents for the position of president, while Mayor Duterte was picked by 53 percent for the vice presidency. The two comprise the so-called "UniTeam".
“Our candidates have maintained their high marks, less than two months before the May elections. Despite such survey showing, they will keep on campaigning and spreading their message of hope, patriotism and unity,” said Romualdez, who represents Leyte's 1st district in the House.
Simply put, a majority win is more impressive than a plurality win, since the former means that the winner received over 50 percent or half of the total votes cast, regardless of the number of his or her rivals for the elective post. In other words, the House leader sees a "landslide win" for UniTeam.
On the other hand, a victory by plurality could be achieved by simply beating the second-placed candidate, even if it's by just one vote.
For context, then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte scored a plurality win (39 percent of votes) in the 2016 Palace race, despite besting the second-placed Mar Roxas by over six million votes (16.6 million against 9.9 million).
Romualdez said Pulse Asia’s February survey “validates the wide support BBM and Mayor Sara enjoy and the warm and vigorous welcome and reception they have been receiving throughout the country".
Romualdez serves as one of the campaign managers of Mayor Duterte, who is also the Lakas-CMD chairperson.
Marcos, a former senator, is the standard-bearer of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).