Despite facing a tough time in governance in the year 2020, throwing open a host of challenges for the Centre, the popularity of the Modi-led NDA government remains unruffled, a survey conducted by ABP News in collaboration with C-Voter has found out.


As the government remained busy handling the unforeseen health crisis due to COVID-19, dipping numbers on the economic front and border tensions with China, ABP News conducted its bellwether ‘Desh Ka Mood’ survey to know what’s running on India’s mind.


Right from CAA-NRC protests at the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 to massive farmers protest towards the end of 2020, agitations and protests have kept BJP at its toes throughout its 2nd term beginning after 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Despite that, the survey suggests, Modi’s popularity, and by extension, that of his party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has remained intact.


Let us look at some of the major findings of the survey. 


ABP News Desh Ka Mood Survey


- BJP-led NDA would bag majority votes if polls were held today


As per the survey, as many as 58% people would vote for Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government, while 28.1% will vote for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and only 13.5% per cent of people will choose the third front.


- Most of the people satisfied with PM Modi's work


71% of respondents of ABP News Desh Ka Mood survey have said that they are happy and satisfied with the work of Prime Minister. Only 26% of the respondents said that they are not satisfied with the work of the PM Modi.


- No alternative to Modi


Almost 50% of the respondents feel that there's no alternative of PM Modi in the country at present. In terms of a leader who can replace or challenge Narendra Modi in future, Rahul Gandhi garnered 25.6% of the votes, while only 21.9% feel Arvind Kejriwal has the mettle. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had the approval of 7.9% as the leader who can challenge PM Modi.


- Congress leadership: Rahul or Priyanka?


In terms of Congress leadership, the survey's finding is almost like splitting hair. Out of the two Gandhi siblings, Priyanka was the favourite one to become the president of the Congress party. She was only 2.4% ahead of Rahul Gandhi though. Priyanka got 34.8% of the vote for the coveted Congress' post, while Rahul got 32.4% vote from respondents. Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi trailed in terms of people who believe that "none of them" should lead the congress with 32.7% of the vote going in that category.


- Farmers’ protest hurt the central government


The ongoing farmers’ protest which has clocked over 50 days now is hampering the image of the Central government, the findings of the survey state. As many as 52.3% of the respondents feel that the protests have put the reputation of the government at stake.


- Govt's COVID-19 vaccine work is "satisfactory"


As India is all geared up to launch its massive vaccination drive, almost half of the respondents said that the government has performed well at the Covid-19 vaccine front.


- Should Nitish and BJP alliance continue in Bihar?


ABP News Mood Of The Nation survey attempted to gauge the popularity of the freshly re-elected NDA government in Bihar, as it completed two months in power. The survey received a mixed response on whether Nitish and BJP should continue the alliance in Bihar. While 47.5% respondents replied in affirmation, 37% responded said BJP-JDU alliance should discontinue.


- Non-NDA and Non-UPA Ruled States doing well


The Chief Ministers of the states who are unaligned to either of the national parties are doing really well. Only Telangana’s CM is relatively less popular than PM Modi in his state. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi, Odisha and West Bengal’s Chief Ministers are relatively more popular than the PM. The inherent message is twofold; first, BJP finds it difficult to unseat non-Congress regional leaders and second, Congress has failed to gravitate anti-BJP or even non-BJP vote towards itself. It can be concluded that an effective future challenge to the BJP will have to take into account the rejection of Congress’s centrality to the opposition leadership.


- Best and worst CM


In the survey conducted, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik came out as the most popular in the country followed closely by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi and Jagan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. On the other end of the spectrum, Uttarakhand's Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat came out as arguably the least popular in India followed closely by Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, with lowest satisfaction ratings in their respective states, as per the ABP News Desh Ka Mood Survey.