PM Modi's performance rating drops to 58% from 62% in February: MOTN survey

India Today

The latest India Today Mood of the Nation survey reveals Prime Minister Modi's performance rating stands at 58%, a marginal dip from 62 per cent in February this year.

Transcript

00:00Let's now look at another big number.

00:03We want to look at Prime Minister Modi's performance

00:06as Prime Minister of the country over the last six months

00:11since the last poll in February.

00:13Gaurav, over to you.

00:16So this is the 46th India Today mood of the nation.

00:20The Sea Voter Survey, when it talks about the Prime Minister's popularity,

00:25performance of the Prime Minister, August 2025,

00:28the latest figures say it's at 58%.

00:32So from a high of 72% in January 2023 to 63% in August 2023

00:40to 61% in February 2024, it's 58% currently.

00:48Those who say his performance has been poor,

00:50that figure is at 26% in the month of August.

00:55The others are don't know, can't say.

00:58So all the challenges, Opsindoor high,

01:01and of course the narrative battle as many spoke of,

01:04that India did not win despite winning on ground,

01:07and the Trump tariffs.

01:08Challenges are plenty, popularity at 58% Rajdeep.

01:12Very interesting, and I want to draw a tracker of this Yashvan Deshmukh,

01:17and you can give us a quick first comment on that.

01:20In January 2023, the Prime Minister was rated good performance.

01:24That's 2023, 72%.

01:27That was a peak that he had reached,

01:29and today it is 58%.

01:32In August 2024, a year ago, it was 59%.

01:36What we are seeing, and this is a point we made earlier,

01:39has the Prime Minister's popularity plateaued?

01:41Yes, he's the BJP's biggest vote catcher still,

01:44but has his popularity plateaued a quick answer?

01:47Well, if you look at the graph, it seems like yes.

01:50I mean, that's the statistical answer of being plateaued when the graph...

01:53Or actually come down a bit.

01:54Or come down a bit.

01:55But, electorally speaking,

01:58how long do you expect a man to continue trending at 50% plus

02:03after remaining 11 years in power?

02:06When was the last time you heard anything like that?

02:10Entire, not just in India,

02:12whichever state in India or surrounding countries or globally speaking.

02:17So, I think attrition, electorally speaking,

02:21attrition of popularity, attrition of vote share

02:23is a very normal thing to happen.

02:26What is abnormal about this number is actually

02:29this degradation is not as sharp as globally or within India.

02:34The electoral history keeps on reminding us

02:36for other leaders and other states.

02:38That's a good point.

02:3911 years in power,

02:40and still your popularity is reasonably high.

02:4360% would suggest first class.

02:45At least that's the way I see it.

02:46But 58% also, not bad.

02:48Mr. Modi's popularity still remains,

02:51it appears, much higher than his party.

02:53And even if there is creeping anti-incumbency,

02:56it's not so much against the individual Narendra Modi,

02:59it may be against states and individual leaders.

03:02I think what Yashven said is quite correct,

03:05in the sense that it's remarkable that an individual

03:07who's in his 12th year in power

03:08comes up with numbers that are above 50%.

03:11So, let's give full credit to it.

03:13And there is a reason for that.

03:14If you look at the peaks that he had,

03:16that 72%, this comes, if I recall,

03:18just after COVID.

03:20First, he has a devastating fall in terms of,

03:22compared to his numbers,

03:24a drop in his popularity.

03:26And then he bounces right back

03:28and comes up with 72%

03:30because people think he's handled COVID finally well.

03:32There was a lot of criticism in the first phase of COVID,

03:35but after that, he recovers.

03:36So, what we are seeing now with Mr. Modi

03:39is not just a plateau,

03:40but the fact is that we are at crunch time.

03:43And some of that impact is being felt

03:45in terms of a very sobering reality

03:47that is happening in terms of the numbers going down,

03:50not only for Mr. Modi,

03:51percentage-wise from the highs that he had in February,

03:54but also for the BJP and the NDA.

03:57Those numbers are down

03:58because we are in a state of crisis.

04:01Now, what Mr. Modi does to handle,

04:03and let's look at it,

04:04his track record has shown

04:06that every time there's been adversity,

04:08he comes out the better.

04:10So, that's his...

04:11And whether he's going to break that track record

04:13is to be seen,

04:13but I think in the next couple of months,

04:16we will see that operating.

04:17He lost a bit, I felt,

04:19in terms of the narrative in Operation Sindhur,

04:21did well to strike back

04:23and strike deep into Pakistan,

04:24but then allowed that narrative to...

04:27Or maybe got hijacked by Donald Trump

04:30in what he did

04:31by claiming that he had stopped the war.

04:33But he has this chance now,

04:35and you can see that Independence Day speech

04:37that he spoke about,

04:38which he realizes that it is crunch time

04:40for the economy.

04:42Next generation reforms are there.

04:43If there's a person in crisis

04:45who's best equipped to handle this,

04:47it's Prime Minister Modi at the moment.

04:48We've seen also...

04:49And that's the results of the poll.

04:50That's why he holds for it.

04:51Yeah, sure.

04:51We've seen this also between COVID 2.0

04:53when his popularity dipped,

04:55and then by January 2023,

04:56it was back at a high at 72%.

04:58Anyone else?

04:59First remarks to what these numbers show?

05:0258%?

05:03Should that be seen as a very good rating

05:06or a clear plateauing of Prime Minister Modi's performance

05:11as Prime Minister?

05:12You know, Morning Consult puts his popularity rating,

05:15global popularity rating, at 75%.

05:18He's seen as the world's most popular leader,

05:20much higher than a Donald Trump or other world leaders.

05:23He's seen as someone who's really hands-on.

05:25So, if you look at it,

05:27all the international awards that he gets for India,

05:30as he says,

05:31it just goes on to indicate

05:32that he's working non-stop for the nation.

05:34You know, Rajdeep, all I'd say is,

05:35I think 58% after 11 years is commendable.

05:39And why I say that is,

05:40juxtapose it on the performance of his party and his government,

05:43he's got better figures there after 11 years.

05:45By the virtue of that fact, I think it's commendable,

05:48but there is this other train that one can look at.

05:50He's been the symbol of nationalism,

05:53where it's come down to the voters.

05:54One of the biggest, I would think,

05:57adversity that would have made

05:59our Prime Minister look even bigger,

06:00larger than life,

06:01would have been Operation Sindhur.

06:03And I would reckon,

06:04if we go by the old figures of the Balakot airstrike,

06:07like Yashwanji has pointed out,

06:09there was a huge surge.

06:10We saw it on ground,

06:12and we saw it in figures as well.

06:13That hasn't quite happened.

06:15So, somewhere down the line,

06:16possibly the nationalism narrative

06:18was dented, A, by the opposition,

06:19and Donald Trump.

06:21Remember, BJP's vote percentage

06:23was around 40%, 41%.

06:24Prime Minister's performance as good as 58%.

06:26So, Prime Minister tends to outperform his own party.

06:29But, Maria, your first reaction.

06:31Is hyper-nationalism,

06:33or perhaps that Hindutva sentiment,

06:36overshadowing the governance agenda?

06:38The government would want the governance

06:41to take center stage,

06:43but then there is this narrative

06:44around Operation Sindhur.

06:46If we were to look at those,

06:47you know, what has happened

06:49in the last 18 months?

06:50There is a consecration ceremony

06:52which happens in 2024, January.

06:55That leads to the peak.

06:57Ram Mandir.

06:58And then there is Operation Sindhur,

07:01which is there.

07:02But in between all this

07:04is an important decision

07:05which is announced for the middle class,

07:06which is, again, the income tax cut,

07:09which perhaps should be discussed more,

07:10but it is not being done.

07:11But it is not reflecting as much.

07:13So, Rajdeep, the sense certainly is

07:16that there has to be a reworking

07:18of the communication strategy,

07:21going back to the governance,

07:23putting, taking center stage,

07:24not as much as, you know,

07:26as we are seeing in the context of Hindutva.

07:29It's very interesting

07:29the way the Prime Minister's popularity

07:33seems almost untouched

07:34by what the other criticisms

07:36of this government...

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