Go tops VP survey; Poe, Cayetano lead senatorial list — Pulse Asia

Bong Go during the proclamation for the winning senators of the recently concluded Halalan 2025 on May 1, 2025 at the Tent City of the Manila Hotel. Handout, Bong Go Facebook/FileMANILA — Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go was the top choice for vice president based on the September survey of Pulse Asia for the 2028 national elections released Monday.

Out of seven possible candidates for the No. 2 post in the May 2028 polls, Go was the favored vice presidential bet of nearly a third of Filipino adults or about 31 percent, the pollster suggested.

Senators Robin Padilla and Bam Aquino, who received a voter preference of 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively, shared the second place, while former Sen. Grace Poe landed in the third place at 14 percent. 

Occupying the fourth place was Sen. Erwin Tulfo at 10 percent, followed by Sen. Francis Pangilinan with 3 percent, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority General Manager Nicolas Torre III with 0.3 percent. 

Pulse Asia noted that “a small majority” of Mindanao adults expressed support for Go’s potential vice presidential bid. Go is a key ally of the Duterte family, whose stronghold is Mindanao. 

The same survey showed Vice President Sara Duterte’s lead in the 2028 presidential race.

It added that Go was also the preferred candidate by “sizeable pluralities” in the Visayas, Class ABC, and Class D.

Padilla meanwhile had the lead in Class E at 40 percent, and around the same voting figures were recorded by Go and Aquino in Metro Manila (26 percent versus 20 percent) and the rest of Luzon (18 percent versus 26 percent).

Meanwhile, 15 individuals emerged as probable Senate winners in the same September survey of Pulse Asia, which included 66 individuals in its senatorial electoral poll.

Leading the pack were Poe and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who garnered 50.2 percent and 46.5 percent voter preference, respectively, while Padilla (45.9 percent) and Sen. Raffy Tulfo (44.4 percent) shared second to fourth places.

Here are the other names of probable senatorial winners in the Pulse Asia survey.

• Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte (37.2 percent, 5th to 6th places)
• Former Sen. Manny Pacquiao (36.5 percent, 5th to 7th places)
• Sen. Loren Legarda (33 percent, 6th to 9th places)
• Makati City Mayor Nancy Binay (31.7 percent) and Senate President Francis Escudero (30.1 percent), 7th to 9th places 
• Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara (26.3 percent, 10th place) 
• Media personality Ben Tulfo (21.5 percent, 11th to 12th places)
• Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) Chief Operating Officer Mark Lapid (19.8 percent, 11th to 15th places)
• Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (18.2 percent, 12th to 18th places)
• TV host Willie Revillame (17.7 percent, 12th to 18th places)
• Former AnaKalusugan party-List Rep. Michael Defensor (16.9 percent, 12th to 20th places)

The survey was conducted from Sept. 17 to 24, 2026 using face-to-face interviews of 2,400 adults. It has a ±2 percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.