Duterte bloc sweeps early 2028 Pulse Asia poll — Sara Duterte leads presidential race, Bong Go tops VP race, Robin Padilla ranks No. 1 for Senate

Vice President Sara Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and Sen. Robin Padilla emerged as the top choices for president, vice president and senator, respectively, in Pulse Asia’s latest preference survey for the 2028 elections.

In the July 2026 Ulat ng Bayan survey, Duterte led a six-candidate presidential field with 49%, followed by Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo with 26% and Sen. Raffy Tulfo with 14%. Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong each received 1%, while MMDA General Manager Nicolas Torre III got 0.1%.

Duterte also topped all five alternative presidential matchups tested by Pulse Asia. She garnered 51% in a three-way race against Robredo and Raffy Tulfo, 52% in a head-to-head contest with Robredo and 60% against Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

She posted her strongest numbers in Mindanao with 87% and the Visayas with 53%. The race was closest in Metro Manila, where Duterte polled 39% compared with Robredo’s 38%, while both candidates received 31% in the rest of Luzon.

Go led the vice presidential preference survey with 27%, followed by Padilla with 21%. Sen. Bam Aquino and former Sen. Grace Poe were tied at 14%, while Sen. Erwin Tulfo received 9% and Sen. Kiko Pangilinan got 4%.

Regional results showed a more competitive vice presidential race. Go led in the Visayas and Mindanao, Aquino topped Metro Manila, while Go, Padilla, Poe and Aquino were statistically close in the rest of Luzon.

Padilla topped the senatorial preference survey with 48.4%, edging Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto‘s 47.9%. Pulse Asia said both figures were within the survey’s national margin of error, placing Padilla in the first to second ranks and Sotto in the first to third ranks.

Raffy Tulfo placed next with 43.9%, followed by Sens. Alan Peter Cayetano at 43.2% and Loren Legarda at 40.3%.

Pulse Asia conducted face-to-face interviews with 2,400 Filipino adults from June 28 to July 3 and on July 6. The survey had a ±2% national margin of error at the 95% confidence level and was conducted independently without being commissioned.