By IANS,
New Delhi : If general elections are held now, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will leave behind the Congress-led UPA by miles, says a ABP News-Nielsen survey released Thursday.
Only 22 percent of the respondents interviewed this month in 28 cities across India said they intend to vote for the United Progressive Alliance, a statement said.
In contrast, 39 percent said they would vote for the NDA, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“It is important to note here that in all ABP News-Nielsen surveys last year, BJP and NDA have shown consistent growth through out,” it said.
The survey showed that the Left would bag 3 percent of votes and other parties a total of 17 percent. Nineteen percent of the respondents refused to give their opinion.
On the party front, 36 percent said they would vote for BJP, if the Lok Sabha election was held now, whereas only 18 percent would root for Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party.
The survey involved close to 9,000 respondents. It was done before the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as Congress vice president and Nitin Gadkari’s resignation as BJP president.
Around 36 percent gave “poor” or “very poor” ratings to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Nineteen percent believe his performance as prime minister is “very poor” while 17 percent termed it “poor”. Only 20 percent called his performance good.
According to the survey, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the most suitable candidate for the post of prime minister.
He beats Congress leader Rahul Gandhi quite comfortably. As many as 48 percent favoured Modi as prime minister while only 18 percent wanted Rahul Gandhi to take over the top post.
Only 7 percent felt Manmohan Singh was an ideal candidate to be the prime minister again.
Around 49 percent said they would vote for the BJP on the assumption that in the 2014 general elections Modi will lead the BJP.
BJP veteran L.K. Advani is way behind Modi. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj gets the support of only 9 percent.
A total of 39 percent of the respondents think that Rahul Gandhi should be the Congress candidate for the post of prime minister. Only 16 percent favour Manmohan Singh.