MANILA, Philippines – His statement that people involved in same-sex relationships are ?worse than animals? has apparently taken a toll on Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao after he dropped out of the Magic 12 in the survey for senators released by Pulse Asia Friday.
Pacquiao, who is running under the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), registered the biggest decline in the voters? level of support, dropping 12.1 percentage points.
From 10th spot in the January survey with 46.9 percent, he was down to 14th with 34.8 percent in the February survey.
Considering the margin of error, Pacquiao remains among the 14 candidates who have a statistical chance of winning a Senate seat of the elections were conducted during the survey period.
There are 56 aspirants to the 12 Senate seats.
The survey, conducted February 15-20 among 1,800 respondents, had a ?2 margin of error.
Among the news developments during the conduct of the survey was Pacquiao?s statement on same-sex relationship, which earned him the ire of various groups and individuals, who made a call not to support him.
According to Pulse Asia, between January and February, only former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel Villanueva experienced an improvement in his senatorial voter preference with +8.0 percentage points.
The top 14 candidates who have a statistical chance of winning based on the survey are:
