India Today-Nielsen poll puts NDA ahead of UPA

Mangalore Today / ITV

New Delhi, August 17: A Mood of the Nation opinion poll conducted by Nielsen for the weekly magazine India Today has put the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, if Lok Sabha elections were held immediately.

The opinion poll projections give the NDA a total of 195 to 205 seats, compared to 171 to 181 seats for the UPA, and a significant 163 to 173 seats for others, which mainly includes SP and BSP.

33 per cent of the respondents opted for BJP on being asked which party will best solve the problems of the country. 24 per cent opted for Congress, while 43 pc opted for ’others’.

 

 

Asked which party is most capable of leading a stable coalition, 34 per cent opted for BJP, 25 pc Congress and 41 pc opted for ’Others’.

Asked which party is most concerned about the problems of the poor, 31 per cent opted for BJP, 23 percent Congress and 46 pc opted for Others.

53 per cent of the respondents rated the past three-year performance of UPA as ’Average’, while 24 per cent rated it as ’poor’.  17 per cent said the performance was ’good’.

A whopping 53 per cent of the respondents described ’pricerise’ as the issue which has most adversely impacted the UPA.  28 per cent described ’corruption’ as the main issue.

54 per cent of the respondents  replied ’No’ to the question: Has Manmohan Singh lived up to his expectations of 2009?

46 per cent said the PM fared ’poorly’ in controlling inflation.

On the question who will make the best Prime Minister for the country, as many as 21 pc opted for Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, 17 per cent still think Atal Bihar Vajpayee, who is away from public life for the past 8 years due to ill health, as the best candidate.

Only 10 per cent opted for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while six pc each opted for Dr Singh and Sonia Gandhi.  L K Advani garnered 8 per cent support. Nitish Kumar could hardly gather 2 per cent support.

The poll, India Today said, was based on a nationwide survey across 19 states with a sample size of 15,827 interviews among eligible voters, covering all age groups, gender and the urban-rural divide from 125 LS constituencies.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewary played down the findings and said; "For every survey, there is a counter survey, which comes to absolutely the opposite conclusion. And psephology for its virtues cannot even claim to be an imperfect science."

BJP leader Ravi Shanker Prasad said: "The last count of the UPA government has begun. People of this country feel cheated by the malgovernance, inefficiency and indifference of this government."