THE VERDICT among political analysts is that Mike Defensor’s unwavering loyalty to President Arroyo is what cost him a place in the Senate.
Pulse Asia figures show that the President’s trust rating, which was down to 24 percent last March, was not so different from Defensor’s senatorial preference ratings which were at 21 percent to 25 percent from April to May 2007. “This shows a trend that those who supported the President would vote for Mike, but those who didn’t wouldn’t vote for him,” Ana Tabunda, executive director of Pulse Asia, says.
Pulse Asia surveys from February to March 2007 also revealed that among 33 percent of voters who said they trusted him, only 10 percent ended up actually voting for him.
Tabunda says “his achievements did not outweigh the negative image he had… and his identification with GMA [caused] damage. Among the Team Unity candidates who ran, Defensor was the most closely identified with President Arroyo. In fact, no other Cabinet member ran under the administration ticket except for him.”
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