India Today’s Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll has thrown a few surprises while other findings were on more expected lines. As a testament to Narendra Modi’s popularity, he was adjudged the best Prime Minister the country has ever seen by 37% of Indians. Indira Gandhi came a distant second with only 14%.
Interestingly, only 9% of those polled believed that Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s best Prime Minister. Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee came third with 11%. Lal Bahadur Shastri and Rajiv Gandhi received 6 percent votes each, while Manmohan Singh and Guljari Lal Nanda got 5 and 3 percent respectively.
Furthermore, 60% of Indians believe the economy is better now than it was during the 10 years of UPA rule. A whopping 45% of respondents said that their income and savings have improved. 70% said India could become a $5-trillion economy in five years, however, half of them were of the opinion that the government needs to carry out sweeping reforms to achieve the target.
According to the latest MOTN poll, Yogi Adityanath is perceived to be the ‘Best Performing Chief Minister‘ in the country. Mamata Banerjee, who had topped the ratings in four consecutive polls, has now dropped to 5th. He registered 20 per cent of the votes. Bihar’s Nitish Kumar came second with 10 per cent votes.
Three Chief Ministers occupied the third spot with 8 per cent votes. Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis shared the third spot with Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik.
Yogi Adityanath has witnessed a huge surge in his popularity after the exceptionally well organized Kumbh in Prayagraj. Consequently, Mamata Banerjee saw a decline in her popularity due to her harsh crackdown on freedom of expression and the rampant political violence in West Bengal.
The poll also discovered that 34% of Indians believed that a Non-Gandhi politician could revive the Congress while 29% believed that only a Gandhi could revive the party. 15% believe that a Non-Dynastic politician had a chance at it while 11% believe a Congress veteran could do the job. Significantly, however, 19% of those polled believe that Mamata Banerjee could replace Rahul Gandhi as the face of the United Opposition.
According to India Today, the MOTN survey was conducted in 97 parliamentary constituencies across 19 states. More than 12,100 people were interviewed for the MOTN poll between July 22 and July 30 this year.
