Incumbent and returning senators dominated the senatorial results of the PAHAYAG Election Tracker Survey, with eight of them entering the top 12 slots, PUBLiCUS Asia Inc., an independent non-commissioned national survey, bared on Wednesday.

Former senator and incumbent Sorsogon Governor Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Taguig Representative Alan Peter Cayetano were the top choices for senator among the 1,500 respondents in the 0⁰survey, garnering 50.7 percent and 43.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian ranked third place with 40.3 percent of the vote.

The survey was conducted between February 11-16, 2022.

Newcomers Raffy Tulfo (37.3 percent) and Mark Villar (34.7 percent) came in 4th and 5th place, followed by Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri (34.5%) and Antique Representative and House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, also a former senator (34.3%) in 6th and 7th place.

Rounding out the Magic 12 were Sen. Risa Hontiveros (31.3%), Chel Diokno (26.1%), Sen. Joel Villanueva (25.9%), Sen. Dick Gordon (25%), and Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro (24.1%).

The following placed 13th to 20 in the senatorial survey are Robin Padilla (23.3%), former senator Joseph Victor “JV Estrada” Ejercito (22.4%), Herbert “Bistek” Bautista (21.9%), Jejomar “Jojo” Binay (21.8%), Lorenzo “Larry” Gadon (21.2%), former senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan (20.3%), former senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and Herminio “Harry” Roque (18.3%).

Dr. David B. Yap Jr., chief data scientist of PUBLiCUS, said the results highlighted the influence of a sizeable proportion of middle-class voters included in the sample of the survey.

“Points of interest germane to this point include the inclusion of Chel Diokno in the top 12, as well as the relatively lower preference shares of popular personalities such as Raffy Tulfo, Jinggoy Estrada, and Robin Padilla, who placed much higher in the surveys of other reputable firms,” Yap said.

Yap further said the race for the Senate is “competitive," with more than 20 names polling above the 15-percent mark and 12 names competing for “four to maybe six of the 12 spots.”

“Those who are polling above 40 percent are relatively safe. All the other candidates from 15 percent onwards are still within striking distance of any of the remaining 12 seats for the Senate,” Yap said.

According to PUBLiCUS, the 1,500 registered Filipino voters comprising the purposive survey panel were randomly selected from the online research panel marketplace of 200,000 Filipinos maintained by the Singapore office of US-based PURESPECTRUM.

The parameters based on respondent age, gender, and location were also utilized in the sample formulation in order for the resulting sample to conform more closely to the features of the voting population, as defined by statistics from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).