Support for Modi as ‘Best Choice for PM’ plummets from 66% to 24%: Survey
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity rating has dropped from 66 per cent to 24 per cent in one year, according to a new survey.
The primary reason for the fall in ratings was the government’s handling of COVID-19, especially the second wave, India Today’s ‘Mood of the Nation’ survey, released on Monday, revealed.
“While Modi was lauded for his handling of the first wave with a high 73 per cent approval rating in January 2021, the disruption experienced during the second wave has seen that figure drop to 49 per cent,” the report said.
According to the just-published India Today Mood of the Nation survey, only 24% think Modi is best choice for next PM. The second choice at 11% is Yogi Adityanath. Modi as the first choice has gone down sharply from 66% a year ago to 24% now. pic.twitter.com/wKPcIfM4bd
— Shivam Vij ?? (@DilliDurAst) August 16, 2021
Seventy-one per cent of respondents said the pandemic had caused more deaths in India than reflected in government data. However, 44 per cent attributed the health crisis to both the central and state governments.
According to the survey, 29 per cent of people thought that price rise and inflation was the biggest failure of the Modi government. About 23 per cent thought that the unemployment rate was the second biggest failure of the Centre.
About 11 per cent of respondents said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be the best choice for prime minister. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was the third most popular face, with a rating of 10 per cent.
However, Adityanath was seventh when it came to a ranking of CMs based on the assessment of people in their own states – a list that Tamil Nadu’s M.K. Stalin led with 42 per cent of votes. Ahead of Adityanath is Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik and Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan.
This year, the survey was conducted between July 10 and July 22 with 14,599 participants. 71 per cent of the respondents were from rural areas and the rest from urban India.
The analysis covered residents of 19 states, 115 parliamentary and 230 assembly seats.
