INDIA – TODAY EXCLUSIVE OPINION POLL

(01) Who can be the best Prime Minister for India?

 Rahul Gandhi – 20 %

Atal Bihari Vajpayee – 17%

Narendra Modi – 9%

Sonia Gandhi – 7%

Lal Krishna Advani – 7%

Mayawati – 6%

Nitish Kumar – 4%

(02) Who has been the best Prime Minister of India so far?

 Indira Gandhi – 31%

Atal Bihari Vajpayee – 23%

Rajiv Gandhi – 13%

Manmohan Singh – 9%

Jawaharlal Nehru – 8%

Vajpayee, long retired from active politics is still the second best Prime minister India has ever had, next only to Indira Gandhi whose emotional covenant with India still remains intact. He is also the second most suitable candidate to be the Prime Minister. His popularity remains intact despite the fluctuations in the fortunes of his party. It is more than a reflection of how he continues to be indulged by India; it is a reminder that the idea of Vajpayee has not passed its time in the Indian Right. The next Vajpayee has to be an invention. The irony is that the most popular BJP leader after Vajpayee is a force of polarization within the party as well as without.

(03) Top Five Best Chief Ministers:

Narendra Modi, Gujarat

Nitish Kumar, Bihar

Sheila Dikshit, Delhi

Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh

Shivraj S Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh

(04) Best Role Model:

APJ Abdul Kalam – 20%

Amitabh Bachchan – 13%

Anil Ambani – 7%

Sachin Tendulkar – 7%

(05) Performance of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister:

Poor – 12%

Average – 37%

Good – 39%

Outstanding – 6%

(06) Has Manmohan Singh’s image been affected by the involvement of senior party leaders in scams?

Yes – 44%

No – 23%

Can’t Say/ Don’t Know – 33%

(07) Has Sonia Gandhi’s image been affected by the involvement of senior party leaders in scams?

Yes – 43%

No – 24%

Can’t Say/ Don’t Know – 32%

(08) How would you rate the performance of the bJP as the main Opposition Party?

Poor – 13%

Average – 35%

Good – 36%

Outstanding – 5%

(09) Will India emerge as the next superpower in education?

32% - India is in the process of becoming one

48% - Yes, it is the next superpower

4% - It will never become superpower

(10) Can an Indian win the Nobel Prize in the coming decade?

Yes – 55%

No – 12%

Can’t Say / Don’t Know – 43%

(11) Will the Indian economy become bigger than China’s in the next 10 years?

Yes – 50%

No – 24%

Can’t Say / Don’t Know – 26%

(12) Highest per capita income cities:

Chandigarh

Gurgaon

Mumbai

Delhi

Bangalore

(13) Should Youth join politics?

Yes – 73%

No – 13%

Can’t Say / Don’t Know – 24%

Other Important details that got in the survey:

• 31% say the Congress is more concerned about the poor while 28% for BJP.
• 47% in Chhattisgarh, one of the worst Naxal-infested states, believe that the Government will never be able to solve this problem.
• 49% consider hosting of CWG as a success while 11% weren’t aware that India had hosted such event at all.
• By 2020, the average age of an India will be 29 years (up from 23 years in 2001)
• 16% of Kerala’s population will be old people in 2021, the highest proportion in the country.
• Bihar and Haryana will be the fastest movers in terms of GDP.
• 40% in Kerala and 58% in Tamil Nadu say their Chief Ministers are best in the country.