Pulse Asia survey was made BEFORE Leni Robredo’s massive rallies, flood of celeb endorsements and active H2H campaigning by volunteers

By Raissa Robles

After the latest Pulse Asia election survey came out showing former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. way ahead and Vice-President Leni Robredo trailing far behind, I could see all over social media a collective sigh of despair and defiance.

Especially by all those doing house-to-house campaigning for her and still preparing for the final rallies this week.

Relax, guys. All is not lost.

Despite the fact that the Pulse Asia survey was released only this week, the survey was actually undertaken BEFORE any of the massive rallies and intensified house-to-house campaigns took place.

If you look at the note from Pulse Asia’s research chief Ana Maria Tabunda and president Ronnie Holmes, the face-to-face interviews actually took place from April 16 to 21 or six days starting Black Saturday.

The first of Robredo’s massive rallies began on April 23 in Pasay – or two days after Pulse Asia had finished conducting its survey.

If you recall, Marcos held his rally that same day in Manila and Senator Manny Pacquiao in San Juan. Both rallies were dwarfed by Robredo’s Pasay rally.

Robredo followed this up with large rallies in the battleground provinces of:

• Nueva Ecija – April 25
• Bulacan – April 27
• Quezon – April 28
• Laguna – April 29
• Batangas – April 30
• Cavite – May 1

In fact, I doubt that the Pulse Asia survey captured the effect of the April 21 Cebu rally since it took place on the night of the last day of the survey.

On top of that, a flood of endorsements from celebrities and various sectors have poured in. Equally important were the thousands of volunteers who have continued knocking on strangers’ doors in many neighborhoods and urging shoppers in malls to vote for her.

All these were not captured by the latest publicized Pulse Asia survey. Despite this, Dr. Tabunda of Pulse Asia told Philippine Daily Inquirer, it “seems” like voters have decided to vote Marcos. Only Election Day will tell if she is correct or there was indeed a last-minute ripple effect.

So when friends ask me – what are the chances of a Leni presidency, I reply that while only God knows, people know in their hearts that the fight for their beloved country is not over.

In a recent talk I gave before a group of employees in a private corporation, I said that if Leni loses you will form the core of the Opposition.

If she wins, you will be the Reformers to make sure her promises are fulfilled.