After 3 years in power, Modi remains very popular, finds survey
dubai — Indians’ approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their satisfaction with both their country’s direction and the state of its economy have grown in recent years, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.
Three years into Modi’s five-year tenure, the honeymoon period for his administration may be over but the public’s love affair with current conditions in India is even more intense.
Nearly nine-in-ten Indians hold a favourable opinion of Modi, comparable to their view of him in 2015, after a year in office. Roughly sevenin-ten say they have a very favourable view of the prime minister, again similar to public views in 2015.
These are among the main findings of the Pew Research Center survey conducted among 2,464 respondents in India from February 21 to March 10, 2017.
At least nine-in-ten Indians in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and in the western states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh hold a favourable view of the prime minister. The same is true for more than eight-in-ten in the eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and the northern states of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Since 2015, Modi’s popularity is relatively unchanged in the north, has risen in the west and the south and is down slightly in the east.
Modi remains by far the most popular national figure in Indian politics tested in the survey. The public’s positive assessment of Modi is buoyed by growing contentment with the Indian economy: More than eight-in-ten say economic conditions are good, up 19 percentage points since immediately before the 2014 election. International affairs Many Indians do not express an opinion about international affairs. One-third or more of those surveyed express no opinion about other countries or Prime Minister Modi’s handling of relations with prominent players on the world stage.
But, there are still some notable differences in opinion.
— news@khaleejtimes.com