84%
of voters are not influenced by surveys--SWS
Only
16 out of every 100 Filipino voters said election survey news affect
the way they vote, according to a pre-election survey by the Social
Weather Stations.
The
survey also found that three out of every 100 registered voters
could be called "bandwagonners"--or those who would switch
to "stronger candidates"--while five out of every 100
could be called "underdoggers," defined as those who would
favor "weaker candidates."
"Thus
the votes of 84 percent were not affected by election surveys at
all," SWS said in a statement released Thursday.
Asked
if they had read or heard of any news on surveys about who would
most likely win the senatorial race, 48 percent said they were aware
of election survey news, while 52 percent said they were not.
Those
who were aware of election survey news were asked whether they would
change their votes "to a candidate strong in surveys from one
weak in surveys" and whether they would change their votes
"to a candidate weak in surveys from one strong in surveys."
About
two-thirds of those who were aware, or 32 percent of the total respondents,
said "no" to both questions.
Across
areas, awareness of election survey news was highest in Metro Manila
(58 percent). It was 52 percent in the Visayas, 51 percent in the
balance of Luzon and only 35 percent in Mindanao.
Meanwhile,
the percentage of those who said that election survey news would
have no effect on their votes was also highest in Metro Manila (43
percent). It was 37 percent in the rest of Luzon, 32 percent in
Visayas and 19 percent in Mindanao.
Across
socio-economic classes, awareness of election survey news was highest
among members of upper to middle classes ABC (77 percent) and lowest
among members of poorest class E (39 percent). Nearly half of class
D (49 percent) was aware of such news.
Fifty-five
percent in class ABC, 33 percent in class D and 26 percent in class
E also said that the election survey news had no effect on their
votes.
The
survey was conducted from May 2 to 4 using face-to-face interviews
with 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro
Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It had a margin
of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
Posted by : Kate Pedroso,
Inquirer Research, in Manila
May. 24, 2007 21:38:00
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