NaMo all the way; survey doesn't see Rahul as next PM

Even as UPA-2 staggers into its fifth year in government, the chant for Narendra Modi as the country’s next prime minister is growing louder in urban India. If the Congress has a dream of seeing Rahul Gandhi in 7, Race Course Road, it seems like a pipe dream right now. A research firm, GFK’s survey in 12 Indian cities for CNN-IBN shows that the numbers supporting the Gujarat Chief Minister as the next PM are more than twice as large as those rooting for the Gandhi scion. The younger they are, the bigger Modi’s fan following. The survey found that 40 percent of the younger respondents (18-25 years) supported Modi over Rahul Gandhi – with Gandhi securing only 13 percent support. [caption id=“attachment_803121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Among BJP supporters, Modi had the support of 84 percent of the respondents in Ahmedabad, and 79 percent in Bhopal. Party patriarch LK Advani was a distant second. In the overall sample, 40 percent believed that Modi had ‘clear ideas and solutions’ and was ‘business friendly and can bring development’. Some one-third of the respondents considered the Gandhi scion as ‘immature and inexperienced’ to be the prime minister. Although around 30 percent felt that Gandhi can take tough decisions and will bring development, the numbers in his support were insufficient to topple Modi. The poll was conducted to understand urban perceptions towards UPA-2 keeping in mind aspects of governance, leadership and various other issues, including corruption, price rise and economic management. The poll was carried out from 7-11 May 2013 in 12 cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, Bhopal and Jaipur - with a sample size consisting of 2,466 adult men and women. This was a quantitative study where eligible respondents were interviewed, with the help of a close-ended questionnaire. Contrary to general assumptions, Rahul Gandhi was seen to be doing better than his sister, Priyanka, when asked about ‘ the most appealing Gandhi sibling’. Plagued by scams, controversies, indecisiveness and, more recently, by doubts about its longevity in power, UPA-2 under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has come to such a pass that 56 percent of the respondents did not want the Congress-led alliance to be given a third chance, leave alone see Rahul Gandhi as the next prime minister. An overwhelming majority of respondents (78 percent) from Chennai believe that the government does not deserve another chance but 60 percent in Mumbai, surprisingly, thought the UPA did deserve another try. Bhopal and Kolkata still vouched for Singh, but one-third of the sample preferred Gandhi as prime minister. However, these numbers do not matter as the numbers favouring Modi head for the dome, as per the survey. The Gujarat CM had his best rating in Lucknow, where 91 percent favoured him as Prime Minister. While Modi was the first choice for the largest percentage, there were other non-Congress, non-BJP candidates who also scored reasonably well. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee got doube-digit backing, but overall close to half the respondents did not find a non-Congress, non-BJP choice as suitable for being the next prime minister. Among leaders in the UPA alliance, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party head Mayawati turned out to be relatively more popular. Even then, close to half the respondents believe that no one among the UPA allies has a suitable candidate for the top executive post in the country. Click here for complete survey