The recent SWS survey, commissioned by broadsheet BusinessWorld and conducted from February 24 to 28 with 2,100 respondents, showed that Aquino and Villar tallied a close 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

Senators Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr., standard-bearers of the Liberal Party (LP) and Nacionalista Party (NP), respectively, are now statistically tied in the latest presidential survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), it was announced Tuesday.

The survey, commissioned by broadsheet BusinessWorld and conducted from February 24 to 28 with 2,100 respondents, showed that Aquino and Villar tallied a close 36 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

The scores are considered statistically tied because the percentages fall within the margin of error of +/-2 percent that was used in the survey period.

The February SWS-commissioned survey is the third tranche of a series of election surveys, with the first conducted on December 5 to 10, 2009 and the second on January 12 to 24, 2010.

The respondents were particularly asked “Kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngayon, sino ang pinakamalamang ninyong iboboto bilang Presidente, Bise-Presidente, at mga Senador ng Pilipinas. Narito ang listahan ng mga kandidato?” (“If the elections were held today, whom would you most probably vote for as President, Vice-President, and Senators of the Philippines?”)

They were instructed to shade the oval beside the name of the persons they would most likely vote for in a prepared ballot with the candidates’ names.

The survey showed that Aquino’s percentage dropped by six percentage points from the survey conducted last January.

Villar’s current rating of 34 percent was a one percent drop from his 35 percent rating in the January survey.

SWS said the decline in Aquino’s rating can be attributed to the decrease in the overall voter preferences in the Balance Luzon (7 percent), Mindanao (6 percent), Visayas (5 percent), and the National Capital Region (3 percent).

For Villar, the one-point percentage decline in his rating can be attributed to the decrease in his overall voter preferences in Metro Manila (six percent), Balance Luzon (2 percent), and Mindanao (1 percent).

However, Villar’s rating in the Visayas increased by five percentage points.

Presidential bets former President Joseph Estrada (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) got a two-percent increase in his overall voter preference from 13 percent last January to 15 percent at present.

Likewise, Lakas-Kampi-CMD bet former Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. enjoyed a two-percent increase in his voter preference with 6 percent, up from the 4 percent recorded last January.

Bangon Pilipinas presidentiable evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva also increased his voter preference from 2 percent last January to 3 percent at present.

For Bagumbayan bet Senator Richard Gordon and independent candidate Nicanor Perlas, their overall voter preferences where unchanged with 2 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The overall voter preferences of independent candidate Senator Jamby Madrigal and Olongapo City Councilor JC delos Reyes of Ang Kapatiran Party slightly declined to 0.1 percent each.

On the voter preferences of the socio-economic classes, Aquino got a high score among the class D or the masses with 38 percent, while Villar got 33 percent among the classes ABC (upper to middle classes) and 34 percent among the poorest class E.

Meanwhile, in the latest Pulse Asia survey released Tuesday, Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, and Miriam Defensor-Santiago topped the race for the 12 senatorial seats.

The three were statistically tied for first place in the non-commissioned survey conducted by Pulse Asia last February 21 to 25.

The survey fieldwork used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 respondents, who were asked to indicate their preference on a Commission on Elections (Comelec) duplicate ballot.

Revilla’s overall voter preference of 53.6 percent translates to a statistical ranking of first to third place, which he shares with Estrada with an overall voter preference of 52.6 percent.

Santiago also has a chance of leading the polls with overall voter preference of 49.4 percent with a ranking of first to fifth place.

She is followed at a distance by another re-electionist senator Pilar Juliana “Pia” Cayetano with overall voter preference of 45.4 percent, and a ranking of third to sixth place.

Cayetano shares the statistical ranking with former Senate President Franklin Drilon who has an overall voter preference of 45 percent.

Following at sixth place is Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile with voter preference of 43.8 percent with a statistical ranking of fourth to sixth place.

Others who have a chance of securing a seat are former Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III (33.2 percent), former National Economic and Development Authority Director General Ralph Recto (33.1 percent), former Senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III (29.1 percent), Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (28.2 percent), re-electionist Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid (25.8 percnet), Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III (24.3 percent), businessman Jose “Joey” De Venecia III (23.5 percent), and Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” Biazon (22.7 percent).

Of these candidates, Sotto, Recto, Osmeña, and Marcos would likely join the winning circle of 12 senators.

Pulse Asia said their poorest possible showing, statistically speaking, is ninth place for Sotto and Recto, 11th for Osmeña, and 12th for Marcos.

“The senatorial bids of Lapid, Guingona, De Venecia, and Biazon are more vulnerable as they could land outside of the winning circle, their worst statistical ranking being in the range of 14th to 16th,” Pulse Asia noted.

Among the probable winners, Santiago registered the biggest improvement in voter support of +8.2 percentage points during the approximately one-month period between the January and February 2010 surveys.

Likewise, candidates who registered significant improvements in voter preferences are NP candidates lawyer Gwendolyn “Gwen” Pimentel with +11.4 percentage points and former Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla (+10.5 percentage points); and Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel (+5.8 percentage points) of the LP.

Meanwhile, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada expressed satisfaction over his “pace of improvement” after gaining two percent increase in the latest SWS presidential survey.

“We are going up while the rest are going down,” the former president said in a phone interview.

“We just need to raise my ratings by six percent every time so that by May, I will have 36 percent of approval rating before the election,” he added. (With a report from Rio Rose Ribaya)