Headlines
Indians' leadership approval doubles; faces high expectations: Gallup
By
By Arun Kumar Washington, March 13
Indians' approval of
their country's leadership more than doubled after Prime Minister
Narendra Modi led BJP to a historic victory in Lok Sabha polls, but it
also faces high expectations, according to a Gallup poll.
Results
of face-to-face interviews with 3,000 adults conducted in
September-October 2014 in India by the leading US public opinion poll
organisation showed the leadership approval jump from 30 percent in 2013
to 63 percent in 2014.
But after a wave of victories, the
party's first decisive defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections in
February suggests growing impatience among Indians whose high hopes for
their new leadership and their economy have yet to translate into better
lives, Gallup suggested.
With the Bombay Stock Market rising by
about 20 percent since Modi took office in May 2014 and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently raising India's growth
estimates for the current fiscal year from 5.8 percent to 7.2 percent,
Indians' outlook for their economy has also improved.
Nearly half of Indians (45 percent) saw their economy as "getting better," up from 29 percent in 2013.
Likewise,
those who felt the economy was getting worse halved from 34 percent in
2013 to 17 percent in 2014, the Gallup poll found.
Despite these
high economic hopes, the percentage of Indians rating their lives poorly
enough to be considered "suffering" continued to rise, from 28 percent
in 2013 to 31 percent in 2014, it said.
Gallup classifies
respondents as "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering" according to how
they rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps
numbered from 0-10 based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale.
Those who rate their current and future lives at a 4 or lower are considered suffering.
Indians in all three life evaluation categories reported low leadership approval ratings in 2013.
In
2014, Indians classified as thriving still have the highest approval
rating of their leadership and reported the largest bounce from 2013,
the poll found.
Those considered to be suffering continue to
approve of leadership the least, and reported the lowest increase in
leadership approval ratings.
This gap in approval ratings between
the thriving population and suffering population is the largest since
2008, and may suggest polarising policies, Gallup said.
The
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is known for embracing business-friendly
policies, while the Congress party is known for a more socially liberal
platform, Gallup noted.
"For Modi's government to continue to
receive high approval ratings they will need to address the needs of
Indians who are suffering," it said.
"Modi has portrayed himself
as the man who can get India's economy growing at its full potential -- a
tall order, but one that Indians seem to expect," Gallup said.
Gallup
also noted that Modi government's first annual budget offering
initiatives that appeal to all segments of Indian society had been
warmly received.
With its vast and youthful population,
manufacturing could offer economic benefits and jobs to the increasing
amount of suffering Indians, it said.
"Modi now needs to
translate Indians' high hopes and economic optimism into real economic
growth that benefits all sectors of society," Gallup said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])