The survey taken by the Pew Research Center says that PM Narendra Modi still popular among the majority of Indians despite strong criticism on issues such as intolerance and the JNU crisis.

According to the survey, 81 percent of Indians still holds favorable view of Narendra Modi, while 80 percent think that current state of economy is good and 65 percent are satisfied with the current direction of the country.

Although Modi enjoys major popularity in India, his popularity is actually decreased since 2015, when 87 percent of Indians had favorable view of the Prime Minister. Reports said that the favorable view of Modi, among Indians, has gone down by 11 percentage points.

It should be noted that the survey was taken on 2,464 Indians from April 7th to May 24th and the recent protests such as Kashmir unrest, Dalit agitation in Gujarat and the rencet Uri attack happened long after the survey was conducted.

Surprisingly, survey showed that Modi is so popular in the country that 61 percent of Congress supporters hold positive view about Modi and BJP. The people’s satisfaction over country’s direction has increased by 36 percentage points since 2013, while the view of the economy has increased by 23 percentage points.

Survey also showed that Modi enjoys popularity among men and women of all ages, educational backgrounds, income levels and regions. Majority of people also approve of Modi’s handling of domestic problems such as unemployment, terrorism and corruption.

However, the public view on Modi’s foreign policy has decreased. People believes, according to the survey, that despite making 51 visits to 42 countries since he took charge, Modi’s image, when it comes to handling ties with other countries, has gone down.

Among the other political leaders, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s popularity has recorded a sudden increase with 63 percent of people are favorable of him, up from 50 percent in 2013. Congress President Sonia Gandhi who enjoyed popularity of 58 percent and 49 percent in 2015 and 2013 respectively, has a popularity of 65 percent in 2016. Congress’s popularity has also increased from 61 percent in 2015 to 67 percent.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s popularity has decreased from 60 percent in 2015 to 50 percent. Although AAP’s popularity has also decreased from 58 percent in 2015 to 47 percent, 57 percent in Delhi still support AAP. The party is also gaining support in northern states such as Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, survey said.

By Prajakt K.