DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/5 May)— Pulse Asia has clarified that widely circulated figures on presidential
preferences from its March 2026 survey were drawn from rider questions commissioned by the office of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, following inquiries from media outlets.
The clarification highlights how some survey results, while conducted within a national survey, may come from client-commissioned questions rather than the polling firm’s standard questionnaire.
“We confirm that these survey results were part of our March 2026 Ulat ng Bayan survey,” said Ronald D. Holmes, President of Pulse Asia, in a statement.
“The figures are based on rider questions commissioned by the Office of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri,” he added.
Rider questions are additional items included in a survey at the paid request of a client (politicians, government offices, or private clients), that are separate from the firm’s main, standard set of questions.
The statement came after Bilyonaryo first reported figures from Pulse Asia’s presidential pre- election preferences survey, conducted from February 27 to March 2. The results reflected two separate “one-on-one” scenarios, where respondents were asked to choose between specific candidates listed in each table: Vice President Sara Duterte versus Mayor Leni Robredo in one case, and VP Duterte versus Sen. Raffy Tulfo in another.
In the first case, Duterte (51%) led Robredo (43%) by eight percentage points. In the second, Duterte and Tulfo statistically tied at 46% each.
While rider questions are conducted using the same survey sample, they may differ from core questions in framing or purpose, depending on the client.
In Mindanao, the results showed significantly stronger support for Duterte. In the Duterte Robredo scenario, 93% of respondents in Mindanao said they would vote for Duterte, compared to the 6% for Robredo, with 1% remaining undecided.
Likewise, in the Duterte-Tulfo matchup, Duterte received 90% support in Mindanao, while Tulfo garnered 9%, again leaving only 1% undecided.
Pulse Asia’s clarification came after the figures were circulated online without clear indication that they were based on rider questions. (Bea Gatmaytan/MindaNews)
