ABOUT nine out of 10 Filipinos believe there is hope in 2016 despite the challenges ahead, the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey showed on Tuesday.
“Hope is the predominant sentiment among Filipinos as far as the year 2016 is concerned,” the polling firm said in its December survey.
“Despite the various challenges they faced this year, an overwhelming majority of Filipinos or 89 percent continue to be hopeful about the coming year.”
The respondents were asked if they would face the coming year with or without hope, and 89 percent said they would do so “with hope.”
This was a slight improvement from the November 2014 survey in which 88 percent of the respondents said they would face the new year with hope.
Pulse Asia said the hopeful sentiment was shared by most Filipinos across geographic areas (85 percent to 95 percent) and socio-economic classes (86 percent to 92 percent).
The survey said those in Metro Manila were relatively more inclined to be hopeful about the year ahead than those in the Visayas (95 percent against 85 percent).
On the other hand, only 1 percent of the respondents said they would face the next 12 months without hope.
Meanwhile, around one in 10 Filipinos, or 11 percent, expressed indecision on the matter as they admitted being unable to say whether they would face the year 2016 with or without hope, a sentiment that is slightly more pronounced among the Visayans than among the Metro Manilans (14 percent against 4 percent).
The survey had 1,800 respondents who were registered voters aged 18 and above.
“We acknowledge the high level of optimism expressed by a great majority of our people in two year-end surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.