92% hopeful of New Year

9 out 10 choose not to be afraid of 2009—SWS

By Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter

A vast majority of Filipinos remain hopeful of the coming New Year, results of a survey released by the Social Weather Stations on Monday revealed.

“Nine out of 10 [92 percent] of adult Filipinos are entering the New Year with hope rather than fear,” the SWS reported.

The hopefulness for the New Year barely changed over the years, confirming the Filipinos’ optimism toward the future.

The SWS survey showed identical high hopefulness proportion in the geographical areas of Visayas (94 percent), the balance of Luzon and Mindanao (92 percent each), and Metro Manila (89 percent).

Though still high at 89 percent, hopefulness for the New Year in Metro Manila slightly declined from its record-high 95 percent in 2007.

Hopefulness for the New Year slightly increased by 5 percent in Mindanao, while New Year hope in the balance of Luzon barely changed (92 percent from 91 percent). The proportion of hopeful people stayed at 94 percent in Visayas.

SWS added that New Year hopes are also high across socioeconomic classes.

It was 92 percent among the middle to upper classes A, B and C; 92 percent among the D class; and 90 percent among the very poor class E.

“Hopefulness for the New Year slightly increased among classes A, B [and] C, from 88 percent in 2007 to 92 percent in 2008. It did not change among class D at 92 percent, and class E, from 91 percent to 90 percent,” according to the survey.

Hope prevails

SWS, meanwhile, observed that “hope prevails even among the few with a sad Christmas.”

“Among the 63 percent who expect a happy 2008 Christmas, 95 percent are entering the coming year with hope. However, even among the 8 percent who expect a sad Christmas, as many as 76 percent look forward to 2009 with hope,” SWS reported.

SWS said the survey question on hope versus fear about the New Year was patterned after the polls conducted annually by the Allensbach Institute of Demoskopy, a pioneering opinion research center in Germany.

The noncommissioned SWS survey was conducted from November 28 to December 1 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon (all regions on the main island except Metro Manila), Visayas and Mindanao.

Margins of error are plus or minus 2.5 percent for national percentages, plus or minus 6 percent for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao and plus or minus 4 percent for the balance of Luzon.

“The 92 percent hopeful about the coming 2009 is similar to the 91 percent posted in 2006 and in 2007. During 2000 to 2004, New Year hope has ranged from 81 percent to 95 percent,” SWS added.

But several other countries failed to show that kind of optimism.

“In Germany, where the survey question originated, those expressing hope ranged from 31 percent to 58 percent in 1991 to 2002. German hope in the coming year has not exceeded 58 percent since 1991,” SWS reported.

In the Philippines, though, hopes for the New Year are high in all areas.

By region and class