SWS: 9 of 10 Pinoys entering 2015 with hope

MANILA, Philippines – Nine in 10 Filipino adults or 93 percent will enter 2015 with hope rather than fear, the fourth quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The SWS said this was slightly lower than the 94 percent who faced 2014 with hope.

Only six percent are facing 2015 with fear, the pollster said.

Hope for the New Year is widespread in all areas – 91 percent in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, and 96 percent in balance Luzon, according to the SWS.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 using face-to-face interviews of 1,800 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon and Mindanao, and 900 in the Visayas.

From 2012 to 2014, the SWS said New Year hope hardly changed: 92 percent in 2012, 94 percent in 2013 and 93 percent in 2014.

In Metro Manila, New Year hope has been flat for three years – 91 percent in both 2013 and 2014, and 93 percent in 2012 – after two consecutive record-high 96 percent in 2011 and 2010.

In balance Luzon, the 96 percent hope for the New Year is similar to the record-high 97 percent who entered 2014 with hope.

In the Visayas, the 91 percent New Year hope is similar to the 93 percent who expressed New Year hope in both 2012 and 2013. These are slightly lower than the record-high 97 percent recorded in 2010 and 96 percent in 2011.

In Mindanao, the 91 percent New Year hope in 2014 is similar to the 92 percent in 2013.

According to the SWS, hope for the New Year has always been high, starting with 87 percent when the question was first asked in 2000, and with 88 percent in 2001.

New Year hope reached all-time high 95 percent in 2002, but declined to 90 percent in 2003, and fell to 81 percent the following year.

The SWS said New Year hope is higher among those who expected a happy Christmas this year than among those who expected a sad Christmas.

Of the 71 percent who were expecting a happy 2014 Christmas, almost all (95 percent) also look forward to 2015 with hope.

Even among the 24 percent who say their Christmas would neither be happy nor sad, 91 percent are entering 2015 with hope, the pollster said.

The Fourth Quarter 2014 Social Weather Survey findings on happiness with Christmas were reported by SWS last Dec. 17.

In Germany, where the survey question originated, those expressing hope ranged from a low of 31 percent to high of 58 percent in 1990 to 2013, the SWS noted.