Siddaramaiah is more popular among older voters, while B Bommai is preferred by younger voters: Survey
New Delhi:
Congress leader Siddaramaiah is the most popular choice for the next Chief Minister of Karnataka, and BJP’s incumbent Basavaraj Bommai is second, according to an exclusive NDTV survey “Public Opinion” in partnership with Lokniti-Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). disclosed. ,
The survey seeks to gauge the public mood in Karnataka on a range of issues ahead of the state elections on May 10 and the verdict three days later.
The former chief minister, Mr. Siddaramaiah, is slightly more popular among older voters, while Mr. Bommai, who is younger, is preferred by younger voters, the survey shows.
Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader HD Kumaraswamy is the third most popular chief ministerial candidate, followed by Congress’s DK Shivakumar.
BJP’s BS Yediyurappa, a four-time chief minister who has never completed a full term, is surprisingly at the 5th position.
Mr Yediyurappa, who was chief minister until Mr Bommai was replaced by the BJP in 2021 amid corruption allegations, is not contesting and has also denied he is in the running for the top job.
But how important is the chief ministerial candidate when people vote? Not as much as the party or the candidate, the NDTV-CSDS survey shows.
Most respondents said they gave more importance to the party (56%) and 38% said they would vote for the candidate. Only 4% said they vote according to the face of the Chief Minister.
It is the voters who support Congress or JDS who mostly consider the party as the biggest factor. However, BJP voters are divided.
The survey shows that the Congress outperforms the BJP in terms of voter perception on key metrics.
More respondents (59%) saw the BJP as more corrupt than the Congress (35%) and JDS (3%).
Unexpectedly for a party campaigning across the country against dynasty politics, the BJP is rated “more nepotism” (59%) than the Congress (30%) and the JDS (8%).
The ruling party also appears to be more affected by factionalism (55%) than Congress (30%) and JDS (12%).
On the positive side of the Congress, more respondents called it for Karnataka’s development (47% versus BJP’s 37% and JDS’s 14%) and for maintaining communal harmony (49% versus BJP’s 34% and JDS’s 14%). Best ranked.
On handling the Karnataka-Maharashtra borderline, the BJP and the Congress have similar ratings (40%) with the JDS in third (14%).
The NDTV survey also tried to find out how likely different castes and communities are to vote.
The Vokkaligas are divided between the Congress (34%) and the JDS (36%), while the Lingayats remain firmly with the BJP (67%). Muslims (59%) are more inclined to vote for Congress.
In March, the Karnataka government scrapped the backward class’s 4% quota for Muslims and gave it to Lingayats – traditional supporters of the BJP – and Vokkaligas. Their quota has been increased to 7% and 6%.
The anti-incumbency factor has also been assessed in the survey. Data shows that disapproval of the BJP government is high among the poor, lower middle class and rural voters.
The NDTV-CSDS survey shows that the Congress (50%) is more popular than the BJP (23%) among poor voters. However, among affluent voters, the BJP (46%) is more popular than the Congress (31%).
Voters were also asked to rate the public outreach of various parties. The survey found that the BJP scores slightly higher than the Congress and the JDS in reaching out to voters.
According to the ‘Public Opinion’ survey, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra attracted slightly more attention than BJP’s Vikas Sankalp Yatra and JDS’s Pancharatna Rath Yatra. However, BJP and JDS registered higher participation in their yatras.