As Modi government completes four years in office, a recent poll conducted by the Times Now affirms faith of the masses in the Modi government. In fact, it seems that the popularity of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP has only increased in the last four years and now this poll suggests that the BJP will do even better in 2019 as compared to 2014.
The poll was conducted by Chrome Data Analytics and Media in order to infer popularity of the Modi government. A total of 13,575 respondents were interviewed across all states and union territories in this opinion survey that took place between May 9 and May 22.
The poll shows that the BJP is going to win 318 seats in the 2019 general elections and this is going to be a substantial increase in BJP’s tally of 282 seats in 2014. The survey consisted of 8 questions that were posed to the respondents in order to gauge public perception towards the Modi government. The responses to these questions show that by and large, the general public is satisfied by the functioning of the Modi government. It is only a minuscule minority which appears to be unimpressed by the achievements of the Modi government.
To a question about who they would like to see as the prime minister of the country in 2019, a whopping 51 per cent preferred sitting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while merely 23 per cent stated that they would like to see Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister. Among the regional players, 7 per cent said they wanted Mamta Banerjee as the prime minister. For Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, it was 6 and 5 per cent respectively. 55 per cent of the respondents believe that the NDA must be given a second chance.
On the question of inter faith relations during the Modi government, 30 per cent of the respondents believe that it has improved. While 32 per cent believe that nothing has changed and only 23 per cent opined that it has worsened. Similarly, on the question of job security, 31 per cent of the respondents opined that it was same as five years ago. 37 per cent believe that it has improved significantly and 32 per cent are of the opinion that it has worsened. On the question of standard of living, 19 per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that there has been massive improvement, while 28 per cent believe that it has somewhat improved. Therefore, a total of 47 per cent respondents believe that there has been improvement in standard of living under the Modi government. 23 per cent believe that there has been no change, only 25 per cent respondents believe that the standard of living has worsened under the Modi govenment.
The final question was on the rating of the Modi govenment. A sizable portion of the respondents, i.e. 23 percent, believe that the Modi government has performed excellently. 26 per cent rated its performance as good. 27 per cent of the respondents said its performance was average while 24 per cent rated it as bad.
This poll coming exactly a year before the country goes into 2019 general elections, suggests that there is a sense of satisfaction as far as the Modi government is concerned. People, by and large are impressed by its functioning and believe that the ruling dispensation deserves to be re-elected. Prime minister Modi’s stature has only increased in the last four years and the public opinion is clearly in his favor. A clear majority wants him to remain in power and no other political leader has the credentials to challenge him as far as the public support is concerned. All in all, it seems that driven by its commendable performance in the last four years and prime minister Modi’s charisma, the BJP is set to not only retain power but make even greater inroads in the 2019 elections.
