In a pre-election opinion poll jointly conducted by Tamil daily Dinamalar and Chanakya, the voters in Tamil Nadu revealed how they felt about the leaders at the Centre and in the state.
The opinion poll was carried out in March with a sample of 19,305 respondents across 70 constituencies. Among the respondents 55 per cent are aged 25 to 50 years while 25 per cent are aged above 50 and 20 per cent are aged under 25.
Around 42 per cent of voters claimed that they voted for the ruling DMK in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while 31 per cent supported AIADMK and 11 per cent backed the BJP. Around 7 per cent respondents voted for the NTK alliance in 2024.
The first question posed to the respondents was about the functioning of the BJP-led government at the Centre. Thirty-two per cent respondents felt it was Excellent, while 20 per cent found it to be Poor and 48 per cent said it was Average. With regard to how the Centre dealt with international issues, 36 per cent said it was Excellent while 17 per cent believed it was Poor. Another 47 per cent said they don't know.
When asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's performance, 35 per cent said he was Excellent. Another 20 per cent thought the PM's performance was Poor and 45 per cent opted for No Opinion or Average.
Another interesting questions asked to voters was whether the Modi government is betraying Tamil Nadu. Around 40 per cent said No while 27 per cent said Yes. Another 33 per cent went with "Somewhat".
Regarding the functioning of the DMK government in the state, 41 per cent said it was Poor while 39 per cent felt it was Average. Only 20 per cent gave an Excellent. Regarding the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, 59 per cent felt it was Poor while 32 per cent gave it an Average and 9 per cent Excellent.
The next set of questions were about the performances of CM Stalin and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin. Stalin got an Average from 40 per cent respondents, Poor from 37 per cent and Excellent from 23 per cent. On the other hand, 45 per cent felt Udhayanidhi's performance was poor while 39 per cent said it was Average. Just 16 per cent opted for Excellent.
The methodology used in the opinion poll or the results of the poll survey could not be independently verified by THE WEEK.