Pinoys optimistic: Better life in a year

About four in every 10 Filipinos are optimistic that their lives would improve in the next 12 months, based on a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Conducted from 23 to 26 June, the poll found

that 37 percent of 1,200 adult respondents had said that their lives would be better in a year, seven percent said otherwise, and 42 percent said it would be the same.

Fourteen percent, on the other hand, did not give an answer.

The figures were equivalent to a net personal optimism score of +30, classified by SWS as “very high.”

The net optimism score in the latest poll was six points higher than the “high” +24 in May 2021, but five points lower than the “very high” +35 in pre-pandemic November 2020.

According to the polling firm, the latest three surveys showed a continuing recovery from historic lows of -19 in May 2020 and -10 in July 2020.

The SWS attributed the six-point rise in the national net personal optimism score from the May 2021 survey to June 2021 poll to the 12-point increase in Balance Luzon and five-point increase in Metro Manila, combined with steady figures in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Adults from Balance Luzon were more optimistic about their lives than respondents residing in other regions, the pollster added.

Balance Luzon respondents had a net personal optimism score of +38, classified as “very high.” Metro Manila respondents came in second with a “very high” +34 score, followed by Mindanao (high +24) and the Visayas (fair +15).

The poll likewise showed that net personal optimism scores were higher among college and junior high school graduates than among elementary and non-elementary graduates just like in previous surveys.

Personal optimism on the improvement of life was “very high” among college graduates at +42, followed by junior high school graduates (+30), non-elementary graduates (+26), and elementary graduates (+25).

Scores among all levels of education among respondents rose from May 2021 to June 2021: 10 points among non-elementary graduates, four points among elementary graduates, five points among junior high school graduates, and five points among college graduates.

The recent survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide with sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

It was non-commissioned and merely included on the public service initiatives of the SWS.