Majority of Filipinos expect vote buying to be widespread in the coming midterm elections in May, according to a Tugon ng Masa (TNM) survey Octa Research held from February 22 to 28.
The survey, which involved 1,200 adult respondents nationwide with a margin of error of ± 3 percent, showed that 66 percent said vote buying would be prevalent while 34 percent said it would not.
Apart from socio-economic class ABC, the majority of the respondents across geographical areas (60 percent to 69 percent) and other socio-economic classes (60 percent to 68 percent) shared this view.
Octa said 69 percent of the respondents from Luzon believed that vote buying would be rampant in this election, followed by 67 percent from Mindanao, 61 percent from Metro Manila, and 60 percent from the Visayas.
Sixty-eight percent of socioeconomic class D also believe that vote buying would be rampant, followed by Class E with 60 percent and Class ABC with 46 percent.
Majority of Class ABC or 54 percent do not believe that vote buying would be rampant.
Octa also found that across all age groups, the majority of the respondents said vote buying will be widespread, with a significant percentage in the 75 and higher age group (70 percent) followed by the 65 to 74 years old (70 percent), 45-54 (69 percent), 25-34 (67 percent), 55-64 (65 percent), 18-24 (63 percent), and 35 to 44 (58 percent).
Across educational levels, the highest percentage was recorded among high school students (70 percent), followed by those with vocational courses (67 percent), elementary students (60 percent), and college students (57 percent).
