New Delhi: In his ninth year as prime minister of India, PM Narendra Modi’s popularity is only soaring, as the India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation survey has shown.
The poll found that the Modi government’s approval ratings have gone up from 56 per cent to 67 per cent. Only 18 per cent of people are dissatisfied with the government, compared to 32 per cent in August last year.
A total of 72 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the prime minister’s performance. The poll, which is done twice every year by the India Today group, predicted that were the Lok Sabha elections to be held today, the NDA would win 298 seats and the UPA would win 153 seats. The BJP alone was projected to win 284 seats.
A total of 1,40,917 respondents participated in the survey. An additional 1,05,008 interviews from CVoter’s regular tracker were also analysed. The survey revealed that 29 per cent of respondents perceived the Bharat Jodo Yatra to be a great exercise for mass connect. Of the respondents, 13 per cent thought of it as “yet another ‘re-branding’ exercise for Rahul Gandhi.” Only a quarter (26 per cent) of the respondents thought Gandhi is best suited to revive Congress, while 16 per cent preferred Sachin Pilot for the role.
As a leader of the opposition grouping, Gandhi lost out to Arvind Kejriwal (preference of 24 per cent respondents) and Mamata Banerjee (preference of 20 per cent respondents). Only 13 per cent respondents said Rahul is best suited to lead the opposition.
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Pandemic management
The survey found that one in five Indians believe that management of the Covid pandemic was the greatest achievement of the Narendra Modi government.
Meanwhile, 14 per cent respondents thought it was the revocation of Article 370. A close 12 per cent ranked the building of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir as the biggest achievement. When asked about the failures of the government, 25 per cent of the respondents said it was price hike, while 17 per cent pointed toward the inability to generate employment.
A significant proportion (69 per cent) of the respondents felt that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) should be applied across the country. Only 19 per cent felt otherwise. There was also significant support for the ban on wearing hijab, with 57 per cent respondents in favour of a ban on religious clothing in schools and colleges. Only 26% of people rejected the idea.
Even as the tussle continues between the government and the judiciary over how judges should be appointed, 38 per cent respondents felt that the current collegium system should continue. Another 31 per cent said that both the executive and judges should jointly appoint judges. Just 19 per cent of respondents believed that only the executive should take the call.
(Edited by Tarannum Khan)
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