[The
report, which was published on Monday, found that 81 percent of Indians had a
favorable view of Mr. Modi in 2016, down from 87 percent the year before. It
also found that, even among supporters of the Indian National Congress party,
the main opposition group, a majority had a positive view of Mr. Modi and of
his Bharatiya Janata Party.]
By Nida
Najar
The report, which was published on Monday,
found that 81 percent of Indians had a favorable view of Mr. Modi in 2016, down
from 87 percent the year before. It also found that, even among supporters of
the Indian National Congress party, the main opposition group, a majority had a
positive view of Mr. Modi and of his Bharatiya Janata Party.
“When I talk to Indian elites, including the
press, there’s this sense of frustration that Modi hasn’t lived up to
expectations,” Bruce Stokes, the author of the report and the director of
global economic attitudes at the Pew Research Center, said in a telephone
interview. “We don’t really see that in public opinion.”
Rather, he said, “it seems that the public is
still enamored of Modi.”
Mr. Modi swept into power in 2014 on a wave
of public support for his development agenda and on disaffection with the
previous governing coalition, led by the Congress party. Though economic
changes have been intermittent, partly because of lack of support in Parliament
from other parties, eight in 10 Indians have a positive view of the economy,
and about two-thirds are satisfied with the way things are going in India
generally, according to the survey.
Part of the good will could be explained by
the country’s economic growth; an annual rate of 7.1 percent for the most
recent quarter makes India’s the fastest-growing large economy in the world.
But significant economic alterations, including those regarding land
acquisition and labor, which are seen as crucial for modernizing India’s
economy and expanding its formal work force, have stalled because of lack of
support in Parliament. In one sign of progress, however, the government in
August pushed through the Goods and Services Tax, a uniform code that should do
away with overlapping state and federal taxes, helping to unify the economy.
“People are not willing to give up on him on
the economy so quickly,” said Shekhar Gupta, a journalist and political
commentator, adding that Mr. Modi’s frequent speaking engagements may have
helped bolster his popularity. “After a long time, Indians have a leader who’s
speaking to them directly and speaking to them all the time.”
The pollsters interviewed 2,464 randomly
selected adults from April 7 to May 24 in 15 states and in New Delhi, the
capital. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage
points.
Though many expressed support for Mr. Modi
and for his party, increasing polarization between backers of Bharatiya Janata
and those of the Congress party was apparent in the survey. Those differences
were particularly stark on domestic issues like corruption, unemployment and
help for the poor, where support from Congress party backers for Mr. Modi’s
efforts has fallen since last year.
One of the main criticisms of Mr. Modi has
been his apparent reticence to confront instances of intolerance. In recent months,
there has been an increase in reports of violence from self-appointed cow
protection groups, which have proliferated under his tenure. Cows are holy
animals in Hinduism, and their slaughter is illegal in much of India. Last
year, a Muslim man was killed after rumors that he had slaughtered a cow and
eaten beef. After an attack on four Dalits, members of India’s lowest caste, in
Gujarat State, Mr. Modi spoke out against the violence.
But such episodes, while provoking criticism
among the country’s intellectuals, appear to carry less weight with the public,
according to the survey. About half of the respondents viewed “communal
incidents,” or tensions between religions or castes, as a very serious problem,
but the issue ranked behind others such as corruption, crime, terrorism and
unemployment.
A version of this article appears in print on
September 20, 2016, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Poll
Shows Broad Support for Prime Minister in India. Order Reprints| Today's
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