SEN. Raffy Tulfo widened his lead in the race for vice president in the 2028 elections, gaining 6.2 percentage points in August to top the latest survey by Momentum Research.
Tulfo garnered 24.5 percent of respondents’ preferences, up from 18.3 percent in July, outpacing fellow senators Robinhood Padilla and Bong Go, according to the noncommissioned National Momentum Survey conducted from Aug. 18 to 23.
Padilla placed second with 14.5 percent, up from 13.5 percent in July, while Go ranked third with 13.5 percent, down from 16.2 percent.
Former lawmaker Rodante Marcoleta followed with 9 percent, while Senators Bam Aquino and Risa Hontiveros tied at 7.7 percent.
The survey showed Tulfo leading in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon and the Visayas, but trailing in Mindanao, where support was concentrated on Padilla and Go.
Tulfo received 31.3 percent in the rest of Luzon, 26.8 percent in the Visayas and 26.4 percent in Metro Manila. His support in Mindanao was only 8 percent, compared with 25.8 percent for Go and 25.6 percent for Padilla.
Mindanao and the rest of Luzon also had the largest shares of undecided respondents, at 14 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
The survey found generational differences in voting preferences. Tulfo led among millennials with 26.4 percent, Generation X with 29.7 percent, and baby boomers and the silent generation with 34.4 percent.
Padilla, however, topped the preference rankings among Generation Z respondents with 16.7 percent, followed by Tulfo with 14.9 percent, Go with 13.1 percent, Aquino with 12.6 percent and Hontiveros with 10.9 percent.
Political affiliations also shaped the results.
Among respondents identifying as supporters of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Tulfo received 38.9 percent, making him the leading vice presidential choice in that group.
Supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte were divided between Padilla, with 26.7 percent, and Go, with 25.4 percent.
Among opposition supporters, Hontiveros led with 30.6 percent, followed by Tulfo with 26.1 percent and Aquino with 23.7 percent.
Independent voters favored Tulfo at 28.6 percent, although 13.7 percent of respondents in this group remained undecided or declined to answer.
Despite Tulfo’s lead, the survey results do not necessarily translate into actual candidacies. Momentum Research said that, as of the release of its report, no public official had declared an intention to run for vice president in 2028.
The survey also noted that Tulfo, Aquino and Padilla had ruled out running for national office. Vice President Sara Duterte, who has declared her intention to seek the presidency, has yet to disclose her preferred running mate.
The survey involved face-to-face interviews with 1,487 Filipino adults nationwide and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points at a 95-percent confidence level.
The margins of error for regional estimates ranged from plus or minus 3.8 percentage points in the rest of Luzon to 6.9 points in Metro Manila. Momentum Research cautioned that estimates for smaller demographic and political groups have larger margins of error.
