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Senator Cynthia Villar is now the leading senatorial candidate, surpassing reelectionist Senator Grace Poe, according to a survey released on Saturday, two days before the May 13 midterm elections.

The Pulse Asia survey, which was conducted on May 3-6, showed Villar topping the voters' senatorial preference, garnering 55.9 percent support from the surveyed Filipino registered voters.

Poe, now in the second place, had an overall voter preference of 47.7 percent, followed by Taguig City Representative Pia Cayetano with 45.0 percent support. Former Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go, meanwhile, landed fourth in the list with 42 percent voter preference.

Former Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. secured the fifth spot in the list with 39.5 percent voter preference. Next to the list were former Senator Lito Lapid with 39.5 percent voter support and former Bureau of Corrections chief Ronald dela Rosa in the seventh place with 37.9 percent voter preference.

Incumbent Senator Juan Edgardo Angara is at eighth in the survey with support of 36.3 percent voter preference. Ilocos Governor Imee Marcos finished ninth with 34.1 percent and Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay at 10th with 32.8 percent support from the voters.

Also in the top 15 were Senator Aquilino Pimentel III with 31.7 percent support, Senator JV Estrada Ejercito with 31.2 percent, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV with 30.6 percent, and former Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino with 28.9 percent voter preference.

The voters will only vote for 12 senatorial bets in the upcoming elections.

According to Pulse Asia Research, Inc., the survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 1,600 likely voters aged 18 years old and above. It has a ±2.3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

The last survey prior to the midterm polls identified 15 out of 62 bets who are most likely to win. Most of them are either current or former members of the Senate. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS