India Today - Mood of the Nation Poll
Text as published in India Today (Feb 12, 2007 Issue)
| Narendra Modi, Gujarat |
 |
|
|
Aug 2006 |
Jan 2006 |
| Outstanding |
8 |
9 |
14 |
| Good |
63 |
54 |
51 |
| Average |
19 |
23 |
19 |
| Poor |
8 |
7 |
11 |
| 1 |
Narendra Modi Gujarat |
2 |
 Aug
2006 |
| 1 |
Nitish Kumar Bihar |
7 |
Aug
2006 |
| 3 |
Vilasrao Deshmukh Maharashtra |
4 |
Aug 2006 |
| 4 |
Y.S.R. Reddy Andhra Pradesh |
3 |
 Aug 2006 |
| 5 |
Sheila Dikshit Delhi |
8 |
Aug 2006 |
| 6 |
M. Karunanidhi Tamil Nadu |
6 |
 Aug 2006 |
| 7 |
H.D. Kumarswamy Karnataka |
9 |
Aug 2006 |
| 8 |
Mulayam Singh Uttar Pradesh |
5 |
Aug 2006 |
| 9 |
B. Bhattacharya West Bengal |
1 |
Aug 2006 |
| 10 |
V.S. Achuthanandan Kerala |
17 |
Aug 2006 |
| 11 |
Amarinder Singh Punjab |
13 |
Aug 2006 |
| 12 |
Vasundhara Raje Rajasthan |
10 |
Aug 2006 |
| 13 |
Tarun Gogoi Assam |
14 |
Aug 2006 |
| 14 |
B.S. Hooda Haryana |
11 |
Aug 2006 |
| 15 |
Naveen Patnaik Orissa |
12 |
Aug 2006 |
| 16 |
S. CHauhan Madhya Pradesh |
18 |
Aug 2006 |
| 17 |
Madhu Koda Jharkhand |
* |
Aug 2006 |
Methodology
The poll sample covered 12,386 voters of 98 parliamentary constituencies in 19 states, spread across urban, rural, male, female and different age groups. Apart from asking voters across the country their opinion on who they thought was the best chief minister in the country, voters were also asked to rate the performance of the chief ministers of their respective states. It is only natural that on the national level, the voters mostly responded positively to their own chief ministers though in the case of some, their popularities cut across state borders.
In January 2006, Nitish Kumar had been chief minister of Bihar for less than three months when the voters in the 11th INDIA TODAY-ORG MARG- AC Nielsen Mood of the Nation Poll chose him the third best chief minister in the country, behind Gujarat’s Narendra Modi and Maharashtra’s Vilasrao Deshmukh. Considering that the two previous chief ministers from the state had usually brought up the rear in our previous polls, it was a remarkable achievement that prompted this magazine to warn Modi, who had almost earned the squatter’s rights over the No.1 slot, that he is in for a though competition in the near future. That has come sooner than expected.
In the 13th Mood of the Nation poll (details, see issue dated February 5), over 12,300 voters from 98 Parliamentary constituencies in 19 states, as in the past, were asked to assess the performance of the chief ministers of their own states as well as to rate them nationwide. Though their area of work is limited to the states they represent, it was clear hat the popularity of some chief ministers cut across state borders.
Modi’s administrative credentials are too consistent to bear repetition. Barring once, he has been in the top five in every poll since 2003, in the process standing on its head democracy’s accepted dictum that the popularity of elected slides downhill as the years roll by. But it is Nitish’s rise that is noteworthy. After 15 months in office there are no signs of voters’ fatigue with his Government. While he shares the top slot nationally with Modi, within the state, his ratings have zoomed, from 29 per cent in our last poll five months ago, to 81 per cent. The sharp rise in his endorsement comes as no surprise. A detailed analysis shows that Nitish’s acceptability levels owe largely to his belief that good governance is the perfect antidote to the decade and hail of stagnation and lawlessness under the Lalu-Rabri regimes. The results are already evident. Be it electricity, roads, healthcare, primary education, transport, communications and even policing, more people think that things are much better now than they were six months ago.
What goes up must come down. West Bengal’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, voted best chief minister in onr last poll proves this point, slumping to No. 9. Within his state, Bhattacharya’s ratings have fallen from 78 per cent in August 2006 to 59 per cent now- a fall that can be attributed to his obstinacy and doggedness in dealing with the highly volatile Singur and Nandigram issues. Delhi’s Sheila Dikshit, the winner in our 2004 poll has to be content with the No. 5 slot. But here’s something for Dikshit to ponder over, considering that assembly elections are due in the capital next year only 36 per cent of voters in Delhi feel she is the best, among the lowest for any chief minister on home turf.
Elsewhere, the picture looks mixed. Andhra Pradesh’s Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy scores spectacularly at national level coming in fourth, while his state’s net rating puts him a lowly 17th. The surprise the package is Kerala’s VS. Achuthanandan. He fared poorly in our last poll, with two out of three voters saying Kerala deserved a better chief minister. But a majority of voters now believe he is doing a good job, an indication perhaps that they believe that the 83-year-old chief minister is quite different from other communists. With Achuthanandan, what you see what you get.
