Support for Vice President Sara Duterte held above the halfway mark in every hypothetical 2028 presidential contest tested in the latest Pulse Asia poll, with more than nine in 10 respondents from Mindanao backing her candidacy.
The Vice President’s strongest showing came against Senator Risa Hontiveros, whom she outpaced 60 percent to 21 percent. Against Senator Raffy Tulfo and former Vice President Leni Robredo in a three-cornered race, Duterte drew 51 percent to Robredo’s 27 percent and Tulfo’s 16 percent.
When respondents chose between Duterte and Robredo alone, 52 percent picked the Vice President and 39 percent the Naga City mayor. The remaining eight percent were undecided or preferred neither.
Pulse Asia also floated a wider slate that added Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority general manager Nicolas Torre to the field. Duterte topped that list at 49 percent, trailed by Robredo at 26 percent and Tulfo at 14 percent, with the rest registering one percent or lower.
The two women’s plans point in opposite directions. Duterte has announced she intends to seek higher office, whereas Robredo has said she would rather stay on as Naga’s chief executive.
The pollster fielded the survey from June 28 to July 6 among 2,400 respondents, carrying a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Pulse Asia stated that its Ulat ng Bayan rounds are run independently “without any party singularly commissioning the research effort.”
