Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte remained as the Boholanos most preferred candidate for president while Rep. Leni Robredo pulled away from a tight race and is now on top of the 6 vice presidential candidates even as voters crossed party lines regardless of their choice for governor.

Results of the Holy Name University (HNU) Bohol Poll Pre-Election Round 2016 survey conducted on April 10-18-May 2, 2016 and released on May 6, 2016 showed Duterte holding a substantial lead with a score of 45% against Mar Roxas 32% with Duterte gaining 4% and Roxas 5%.

However, the much vaunted Liberal Party dominance at the provincial, congressional, municipal and barangay levels will put to an acid test as survey results on voter’s preference for governor over preference for president showed that those voting for LP candidate Governor Edgar Chatto preferred Duterte for president.

Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay were tied for third with scores of 16% and 14% respectively followed by Miriam Santiago with 2%. All their scores took a slight dip compared to the last HNU survey with Binay losing the most at 6%.

In the vice presidential race, Robredo’s remarkable show of strength as shown in her consistent rise in the national survey’s was also mirrored in the HNU poll 2016 as the congresswoman from the 3rd district of Camarines Sur scored 39% outpacing Alan Peter Cayetano 30%, Francis Escudero 16%, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. 8%, Antonio Trillanes lV 5% and Gregorio Honasan 2%.

Duterte, showing his broad based nature of support also took a firm grip in the Class ABC, Duterte 56%, Roxas 26%, Class D Duterte 44%, Roxas 34%, Poe 14% and Class E Duterte 44%, Roxas 25%, Poe 20% and Binay 11%.

For the vice presidential race, it was a different picture in the battle for the hearts and minds of the different sectors in Bohol as Robredo scored 37% in the Class ABC against Cayetano’s 36%, Escudero 15% and Marcos 11% with Trillanes and Honasan at 1% and 0% respectively.

In class D, Robredo scored 42%, Cayetano 28%, Escudero 15% while Marcos, Trillanes and Honasan got single digit scores.

Class E preferred Cayetano with 32%, Robredo 30% and Escudero 25%.

Duterte held significant leads in Tagbilaran City with 52% against Roxas 28%, Poe 14%, Binay 4% and Santiago 2%.

It was only in the 2nd district that Roxas held a slight lead over Duterte 41% to 35% but it was Duterte over Roxas in the 1st district 47% to 32% and the 3rd district 53% to 24% for Duterte and Roxas respectively.

It was close between Robredo and Cayetano in Tagbilaran City with 38% and 30% for Robredo and Escudero at 12%, 1st district Robredo 38%, Cayetano 30%, Escudero 16% and 3rd district Robredo 38%, Cayetano 33% and Escudero 14%.

However, in a cross tabulation survey done by the HNU poll survey to gauge voter’s preference for governor vs preference for president, those who preferred to vote for Governor Edgar Chatto, who is running for a third term under the Liberal Party (LP), 43% opted for Duterte instead of Roxas 37%.

Those who also preferred Chatto as their governor went for Poe 13%, Binay 7% and Santiago 1%.

But those who were for a Partido ng Manggagawa at Mangisgisda (PMM) gubernatorial candidate Wenceslao Garcia went for Roxas 52%, Duterte 37% and Binay 12%.

100% of voters who picked KBL’s candidate for governor, Cipriano Gaudicos were all for Binay.

In the cross tabulation for voters preference for governor vs. preference for vice president, Robredo was the 100% choice for those who will vote for Gaudicos and 100% for Cayetano if their governor is Balagosa.

For Chatto, voters’ choice for veep was Robredo 40%, Cayetano 28%, Escudero 18% and Marcos 7% while those voting for Imboy settled for Robredo 36%, Cayetano 34%, Escudero 15% and Marcos 11%.

With his known womanizing, Duterte struggled to get the sympathy of Boholanas as Roxas edged Duterte in the female sector 38% to 36% but male voters dominated Duterte over Roxas 55% to 26%.

But Robredo was the all around choice for both male and female with a score of 37%, Cayetano 31%, Escudero 16% and Marcos 9% for the male sector and was tops in the female sector with 41%, Cayetano, 28%, Escudero 17%, Marcos 7%, Trillanes 6% and Honasan 1%.

Duterte got the nod of the 18-24 age group 54% with Poe coming in at 24% followed by Roxas 13%. In the 45 and above category, Duterte held a slim lead of 45% over Roxas 39%.

Robredo gained the support of all age groups topping the 45 and above age category.

The Bohol Poll Pre-Election Round 2016 was presented by Angelo Yuanyan, Research Associate and Maria Paz J. Espiritu, Head, Center for Research and Publication of HNU. (Chito M. Visarra)