BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi leads the race for the country’s top job in the run-up to the 2014 general elections and appears to have consolidated his lead during the last three months, according to an opinion poll commissioned by the CNN-IBN—The Week.
Modi is the choice of 35% of those who responded to the poll conducted by the Centre for Studies of Developing Societies (CSDS) and telecast on Thursday night.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi trails the race and only 17% of the respondents chose him as their choice for the Prime Minister’s post.
Among the young voters also, Modi has left Gandhi behind, according to the poll, with 37% of them favouring him in comparison to only 16% backing the Congress leader.
According to the poll, 26% respondents felt Modi is a leader who takes good and strong decisions, and 21% were of the view that he is capable of developing the country.
Only 3% found him unsuitable for leading a coalition government at the central level.
In the four poll-bound states, where the BJP and Congress are locked in a direct fight, Modi emerged a clear favourite in Delhi and Rajasthan, but Gandhi managed to bring down the gap in two states — Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
{{/usCountry}}In the four poll-bound states, where the BJP and Congress are locked in a direct fight, Modi emerged a clear favourite in Delhi and Rajasthan, but Gandhi managed to bring down the gap in two states — Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
{{/usCountry}}On Gandhi’s dramatic decision to oppose the now scrapped Ordinance for allowing convicted MPs/MLAs to continue despite conviction in a criminal offence, 37% respondents felt he opposed it after coming to know that it was an unpopular move.
Some of the respondents also felt that Gandhi’s decision to reject it publicly was an insult to the Prime Minister and the cabinet.