A vast majority of Filipinos surveyed by WR Numero (WRN) Research prefer presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos on the belief that he would implement full continuity of incumbent President Duterte's ways.
In a statement sent to the Manila Bulletin Wednesday, April 6, the public opinion research firm said 79.23 percent of Filipinos prefer Marcos "as they perceive that he will fully...continue President Duterte’s policies".
Meanwhile, the same survey showed that roughly half of the respondents--44.38 percent--would still vote for the UniTeam presidential bet even if he would only "partially continue" the current administration's policies.
The WRN survey was carried out in October 2021, right around the time of the filing of certificates of candidacies (COCs) for the May 9, 2022 elections. Marcos, son of former strongman President Ferdinand Marcos, has consistently led popularity polls for the presidency since the COC filing.
In a separate poll, WRN learned that "more than half" of Filipino voters prefer soft continuity, as opposed to the full continuity, or even the complete overhaul of the Duterte administration.
Speaking of a complete overhaul or change in government, the October 2021 survey showed that opposition standard-bearer Vice President Leni Robredo was the top choice of voters who wanted this to happen.
Some 41.6 percent of respondents agreed Robredo will bring change, while only 2.73 percent and 16.49 percent expect her to fully and partially continue Duterte’s approach, respectively.
"WRN uses several levels of statistical intervention in its digital surveys to arrive at
accurate results. The firm conducted a digital survey of 1,200 unique respondents with a
95 percent confidence interval from a high-quality online panel that is representative of all
classes," the firm explained.
The firm also employs a quota sampling and a proportional weighting method, using data
from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
"It allows the WRN to avoid overrepresentation and underrepresentation across the four demographic profiles – socio-economic, geographic, sex and gender, and age," it added.
Dr. Robin Michael Garcia, a Shanghai-educated political scientist and professor is the chief executive officer of WRN Research. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Political Economy Program of the School of Law and Governance of the University of Asia & the Pacific (UA&P).