Asianet News Mood of the Nation Survey shows advantage BJP in Lok Sabha polls, Congress in deeper trouble

* Asianet News Network's survey shows that 79% of Indians prefer an NDA government over that of the INDI alliance.

* Narendra Modi is the top choice for the Prime Minister's post in the Mood of the Nation Survey.

* 80% feel that the country's standing in the global order improved under PM Modi

* 51.07% feel that the Narendra Modi government has delivered on its promises

* 55% feel Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will not improve the Congress party's fortunes

The forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections are a litmus test not just for the Bharatiya Janata Party but also, more importantly, for the Opposition. The INDI alliance is squaring off against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the collective might of the National Democratic Alliance. The mega Mood of the Nation Survey conducted online by the Asianet News Network shows that the Opposition has quite an uphill battle on its hands. In many ways, the survey shows that this general election could set this nation on a whole new trajectory of growth.

The extensive survey, conducted by Asianet News Network's digital platforms in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla and Marathi between March 13 and March 27, received an overwhelming 7,59,340 responses. Our editors carefully curated the questions for the Mood of the Nation survey to reflect the realities of the present-day 'Bharat' and the topics that are being discussed in every nook and corner of this diverse nation. The survey unflinchingly stayed true to its theme, 'Every Vote Counts, Every Opinion Matters'.

Let us now delve deeper into the insights from the Asianet News Network's Mood of the Nation survey:

An overwhelming 51.1 per cent of the respondents believe that the Narendra Modi government's decision to notify the Citizenship Amendment Act rules will positively impact the BJP's election prospects. While 26.85 per cent of those who took the digital survey believed that the decision on CAA would negatively impact the BJP in the Lok Sabha election, 22.03 per cent felt there would be no impact on the party's performance in the hustings. Curiously, 48.4 per cent of the respondents from Tamil Nadu believed that the decision to notify CAA rules would have no impact on the BJP's election fortunes.

When asked to rate the biggest achievement of the Narendra Modi government, 38.11 per cent lauded the infrastructure development work undertaken by the dispensation. Another 26.41 per cent voted for the government's Digital India initiative while 11.46 per cent picked the Modi government's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India) push.

A further deep dive revealed that the Hindi heartland (30.04 per cent) cited the fulfilment of the Ram Mandir promise as the Modi government's biggest achievement. Interestingly, a similar view emerged from among the Telugu-speaking audience which too echoed the Hindi heartland (30.83 per cent votes). At the same time, they also gave a resounding thumbs up for the Digital India initiative.

Staying on the Ram Mandir, the Mood of the Nation survey revealed that 57.16 per cent of the respondents across the country stated that Ram Mandir will be a factor in the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections while 31.16 per cent of them felt otherwise.

Narendra Modi (51.06 per cent) was voted as the top choice for the Prime Minister's post followed by Rahul Gandhi (46.45 per cent). Rahul's enhanced numbers came from just one state -- Kerala (50.59 per cent). Remove that, and one sees Narendra Modi truly emerging as the national leader with over 80 per cent. In the rest of the southern states, and across the nation, Modi is the top choice for the Prime Minister's post.

When asked in more specific terms about who they thought was better suited to govern India for the next five years, the mandate was pretty one-sided with 78.6 per cent opting for an NDA government while 21.4 per cent rooted for the INDI alliance.

A very important dataset that emerged from the Mood of the Nation survey is that voters have shed the decades-old practice of falling for freebies and populist promises when it comes to deciding what matters the most to them. An overwhelming 80.5 per cent of the respondents stated that development -- not caste dynamics, candidate profile or freebies -- will be the factor that determines their vote. This reflects the coming of age of the electorate, and, in many ways, offers the Opposition an opportunity to rethink their election strategy.

Talking of the Opposition, the Asianet News Network survey highlights how 60.33 per cent of respondents -- even those in states not governed by the BJP -- believe that the INDI alliance will not be able to overpower the Modi wave in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Only 32.28 per cent of the respondents believed that the INDI alliance would be able to tame the Modi wave.

Digging into the aspect even more closely, the dataset reveals that 48.24 per cent of those who took part in the survey believed that the Opposition's biggest failure was three-pronged -- lack of vision, lack of leadership and having too many leaders with Prime Ministerial ambitions.

More worrying prospects lie ahead for the Congress, which has, in recent weeks, seen a spate of resignations. The Mood of the Nation survey reveals that 54.76 per cent of the respondents believe that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will not improve the party's prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha Election 2024. Just 38.12 per cent of the respondents believed that the Congress tally could improve due to Gandhi's Nyay Yatra.

When asked about what they would rate as the biggest failure of the Narendra Modi government, 32.86 per cent of respondents slammed the handling of the ethnic violence in Manipur involving the Kuki-Zo tribes and the Meiteis over disputes pertaining to land, resources, political representation, and affirmative action policies. The nine-month-long violence has resulted in the loss of over 180 lives and the displacement of 50,000 individuals internally. Other issues which respondents termed as the biggest failures of the Modi government included soaring fuel prices (26.2 per cent), unemployment (21.3 per cent) and inflation (19.6 per cent). The survey found unemployment (36.7 per cent) to be the biggest concern for respondents from the Hindi heartland while voters in Tamil Nadu picked price rise (41.79 per cent).

Another important aspect that emerged from the Mood of the Nation survey is that 51.36 per cent of the respondents believed that there is a deliberate attempt being made to create a North-South divide ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Just 35.28 per cent of respondents hold a contrarian view.

The middle class forms the backbone of this country. And when asked whether the life of the middle class had improved under the Narendra Modi government, the opinion was somewhat divided. While 47.8 per cent of respondents were of the view that the life of the middle-class segment had improved, 46.1 per cent felt otherwise. Certainly, this dataset offers some food for thought for both the Opposition and the ruling Narendra Modi government.

A total of 51.07 per cent of the respondents believe that the Narendra Modi government has delivered on its promises while 42.97 per cent thought otherwise. At the same time, 60.4 per cent of respondents believed that corruption has been curbed under the Narendra Modi administration.

Another 56.39 per cent gave a thumbs up to the Modi government's handling of the foreign policy. Another 65.08 per cent endorsed the Narendra Modi government's handling of the border issue with China while 21.82 per cent were unsatisfied with the manner in which the government handled Beijing. Besides, 79.27 per cent of respondents believed that the country's standing in the global order improved under PM Modi.