Although Narendra Modi’s 2014 election victory and subsequent policies while in office appeared to have won overwhelming approval from Indians, a survey of the nation’s public opinion by the Pew Research Centre in Washington said that citizens continued to be deeply concerned about “myriad challenges,” including crime, jobs, inflation and corruption, which 80 per cent of the survey population viewed as “very big problems.”
A Pew Report released on Thursday titled “The Modi Bounce,” noted, concern about air pollution is up 22 points during the past one year, complaints about poor-quality schools were up 20 points and worry about health care was up 15 points, even though Mr. Modi’s appeal was considered a driving force behind this upsurge an Indians’ positive mood.
Mr. Modi’s personal popularity appeared to be at the heart of the sky-high approval ratings.
The report found not only that 87 per cent of Indians had a favourable opinion of Mr. Modi, up from 78 per cent in 2013, but notably 74 per cent of backers of the Indian National Congress party (INC) also viewed Mr. Modi favourably.
However, as would be expected, there was a significant difference in the intensity of that support, with more than 83 per cent of BJP supporters expressing a “very favourable” opinion of Mr. Modi but only about 41 per cent of Congress followers feeling as strongly positive about the Prime Minister.
Additionally, the Prime Minister enjoyed popularity across the demographic spectrum, for example including both men and women, and among all age groups, educational backgrounds and income levels, the report said.
Geographically too, the distribution of support defied expectations in some regards, with rural areas, which are not traditional strongholds of BJP support and are “historically… the preserve of the Congress party,” giving Mr. Modi his strongest backing at 89 per cent favourable rating .
Commenting on the study, Bruce Stokes, Pew’s Director of Global Economic Attitudes, said that respondents with a lot of confidence in their Prime Minister perhaps unsurprisingly said that the nation’s economic situation was “very good,” though he added that the survey said that Indians viewed the world as a “challenging place,” and they still felt “underappreciated” on the world stage.
Almost 75 per cent of Indians surveyed noted that they were concerned about global climate change and a similar proportion worried that Pakistan posed a “very serious threat to India.”
The survey was conducted among 2,452 respondents in India from April 6 to May 19, 2015.
