MANILA, Philippines - Nearly half of Filipinos (49%) believe Christmas this year will be no different than last year's while a big majority is looking forward to the year ahead with hope, results of the latest Pulse Asia survey showed Wednesday.

The survey showed 29% of Filipinos believe that Christmas this year will be more prosperous while 22% think that Christmas this year would be poorer than last year's.

Big pluralities in the smaller geographic areas of Eastern Visayas and Region 11 are more optimistic that Christmas this year will be better while in Central Visayas and in the combined
areas of Region 10 and CARAGA, those who think that the Christmas season will be the same as last year are almost as numerous as the optimists (43% vs 46% and 40% vs 42%, respectively).

Pulse Asia said optimism towards the coming Christmas holiday was actually better this year (29%) compared to year-ago levels (20%), despite the various natural disasters that affected the country in Septermber and October.

The survey showed that 86% of Filipinos  will face the year 2010 with hope while less than one in ten (7%) will face the year ahead either with apprehension or without hope and without apprehension.

Most Filipinos across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes (80% to 90%) are optimistic about the year ahead.

Between October 2008 and 2009, there is an 8-percentage point increase among Filipinos who say they will face the year ahead with hope.

The survey was conducted last October 22 to 30 and sampled 1,800 respondents 18 years old and above. Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey has a ± 2% error margin at the 95% confidence level.