Mindanaoans, ‘very poor’ have highest hope

Residents of Mindanao and “very poor” Filipinos have highest hopes for the coming new year, a survey showed.

Results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed that 94 percent of Filipinos in Mindanao will welcome the new year with hope, a 5-percentage point jump from 2010.

But the results barely changed in the Visayas at 96 percent from 97 percent last year,  in Luzon areas outside the metropolis (95 percent from 94 percent) and in Metro Manila unchanged at 96 percent.

Among the “very poor” class E, hope in the new year rose to a record 93 percent, higher than last year’s 89 percent and surpassing the previous high of 91 percent in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2007.

New Year hopes stayed at 97 percent among the “middle to upper classes” ABC while it hardly moved among the “masa” class D, up to 96 percent from 95 percent.

About nine in 10 Filipinos said they would welcome the new year with hope rather than with fear, according to the latest SWS survey.

Results of the poll found 95 percent of the respondents saying they were hopeful of the coming year, while four percent said they would face 2012 with fear.

The latest figure of hopeful Filipinos duplicated the record-high 95 percent seen in 2002 and was slightly higher than last year’s 93 percent.

The survey conducted from December 3 to 7 asked respondents: “Is it with hope or fear that you enter the coming year?” SWS interviewed 1,200 adults nationwide and used a margin of error of plus-minus 3 percent.

Since SWS began its poll on hope and fear about the new year in 2000, “hope with the coming year has customarily been at high levels,” the independent research institution said.

It was 87 percent in 2000 and 88 percent in 2001, prior to the record 95 percent in 2002. The number declined to 90 percent in 2003 and 81 percent in 2004.

It increased to 85 percent in 2005; 91 percent in both 2006 and  2007, and 92 percent in 2008. The figure dropped again to 89 percent in 2009 and then rose to 93 percent last year.

The SWS survey also found that of the 64 percent who were looking at a happy 2011 Christmas, 97 percent said they would face 2012 with hope. On the other hand, of the 11 percent who were looking forward to a sad Christmas, only  89 percent said that they would face the new year with hope. Ana Roa, Inquirer Research