After suffering a sharp drop in survey ranking for senatorial candidates in the upcoming Phl national elections, Manny Pacquiao has maintained his ranking at 6-12 in the latest survey conducted by Pulse Asia from March 8-13.
Pacquiao was eased out of the Magic 12 winning candidates last February as a result of his controversial statement about same-sex marriage which drew widespread outrage within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LBGT) community. Before the same-sex marriage controversy, Pacquiao was a consistent 7th-10th placer in the surveys from the time he filed his Certificate of Candidacy last October. Pacquiao has since apologized to the pubic in general and to the LGBT community in particular for his “insensitive” statement but maintained his stand on same sex-marriage based on what he learned from the Bible. In the last survey (March 1-6), Pacquiao ranked 6-11. Now he is only a point shy of his last ranking at 6-12. To view the senatorial ranking in the latest poll, click here. Pacquiao, who has the highest awareness rating among the senatorial candidates along with former senator Panfilo Lacson, has not been able to campaign unlike the other candidates due to his upcoming trilogy fight against Timothy Bradley on April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. After spending about four weeks in his training camp in General Santos City, Pacquiao has since moved to the U.S. for the second phase of his training. Pacquiao will have close to one month to engage the electorate in a face-to-face campaign in the countryside immediately after his April 9 fight. The election in the Philippines is set for May 9.
