Reliable Pew attitudes survey

Buried in the news pages of newspapers last week was an interesting item on the Spring 2026 Attitudes Survey of the US-based Pew Research Center. It was about behavioral patterns, political sentiment and attitudes, across various age groups in the Philippines, particularly on the issue of China.

According to the survey, there is a striking age gap in how Filipinos view China and Chinese President Xi Jinping who is now on a state visit in Washington, even as doubts and concerns about the Philippines’ relations with Beijing remain.

Pew Research said among Filipinos ages 18 to 34, some 47 percent expressed a favorable opinion of China. That compares with 44% among those ages 34 to 49, and just 27 percent among people 50 and older.

Pew noted that the generational gap was even larger when respondents were asked about Xi Jinping. Some 61 percent of young Filipinos ages 18 to 34 said they had confidence in the Chinese leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs.

The figure was 55% among those ages 35 to 49, but only 32% among older Filipinos.

The Philippines is not the only subject matter of the 2026 Pew Survey, which also dealt with regional and global issues. The PHL portion of the Pew’s Spring 2026 Attitudes Survey involved 1,003 adults interviewed face-to-face from February 28 (the day Israel and the US bombed Iran) to March 31. The nationally representative sample had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

The popularity of China and President Xi Jinping among young Filipinos is expected to be met with insidious and malicious derision to people like Gibo, Tarriela, Carpio and Heydarian—with one in this cabal, Edmund Tayao of PEERS, saying that he would have believed these findings if at least 2 Filipino survey firms did the poll.

It should interest this group that Pew Research also affirmed that “across the Philippine public as a whole, 76% named China as the country’s top threat, while at least eight in 10 expressed concern about territorial disputes involving China and its neighbors.”

Add to this is the observation that “Filipinos remained cautious about China as a partner. Only 42% described China as reliable, while 81% said the same about the United States.” How’s that for balance?

There is an observation that the results paint a more complicated picture than simply being pro-China or anti-China.

Younger Filipinos appear considerably more open to China and President Xi than older generations, while many still believe the American line that demonizes China, using worn-out arguments about the South China Sea and the “arbitration ruling.”

It is a whiff of fresh air that the Filipino youths, steeped in the culture of AI, the internet, and technology innovation, have achieved a new level of critical thinking that rejects the rantings of the dying US empire that has ruled the world for more than a hundred years.