If Lok Sabha polls were held today, Modi will win with overwhelming majority, finds Times Group's mega online poll

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi remains India's most popular leader with no competition in sight, according to Times Group's new mega online survey.

Despite the note ban, GST and a no-holds barred poll campaign in Gujarat, more than three-quarters of respondents, in an online survey conducted in 9 languages across 10 Times Group media properties, said they will vote for him if the Lok Sabha polls were held today.

Similarly, 79 per cent of those surveyed said that a Modi-led government is currently the most likely scenario in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, according to the three part-survey conducted online between December 12-15 with over half a million responses.


The same survey showed that only some 20 percent said they would vote for Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi in a head-to-head contest with Narendra Modi today.

However, there is hope for Rahul Gandhi as he seems to have found some resonance with voters.

While a significant 55 percent of those surveyed remain unimpressed with Rahul Gandhi, 34 per cent respondents said the Gandhi scion has been able to establish a new connect with voters.

What is more worrisome for Congress is that as many as 73 per cent of the respondents said they don't consider the party an alternative even after Rahul's elevation.

Does that mean if Rahul were out of the picture the Congress will fare somewhat better? Not really, according to the survey.

While some 38 per cent of those polled said they wouldn't vote for the Congress if a non-Gandhi were to be its leader, almost an equal number (37 per cent) said they would vote for the party if another leader from outside the family were to lead it.

While Rahul may or may not be winning the personality contest, the larger-than-life figure of Modi appears to be key for those who are in favour of the BJP.

Consider this - 31 per cent of those surveyed said they wouldn't vote for the BJP if he weren't to be its PM candidate. This means that while the BJP has retained its core constituency (48 per cent said they would vote for the party even if he was not the leader), PM Modi remains its premium brand and adds a sizeable number to its vote base.

Watch live discussion on the survey on Times Now

Survey methodology:
The Times Group's survey was conducted online over 72 hours between December 12-15. The survey was conducted in 9 languages across 10 Times Group media properties. Each response has been geo-tagged to city and state. The results were concealed from voters till after voting ended.