Voters corrected Lok Sabha mistakes in Maha & Haryana, reaffirmed trust in PM Modi’s leadership: Matrize survey

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma and increased voter trust in his government were the key factors that helped the BJP come up trumps in Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections, barely six months after Lok Sabha election reverses, a poll by research agency Matrize showed on Monday.

Opinion poll conducted by Matrize in both states soon after BJP’s big win in Maharashtra on November 23, showed that over 50 per cent of the respondents in both states agreed that PM Modi’s popularity had increased after BJP won 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi’s face was picked by over half of respondents as the biggest draw to support the BJP in both states, according to the Matrize poll. As many as 54 per cent of voters in Maharashtra and 52 per cent in Haryana claimed that they had Modi’s face in their minds at the time of voting in Assembly elections, it said. The Opinion poll, with a sample size of 76,830 in Maharashtra, showed that PM Modi’s slogan “Ek Hain to Safe Hai” was the most impactful. Almost 56 per cent of the respondents in the state found the slogan to be very effective as compared to 25 per cent of others who were attracted by the slogan “Batenge to Katenge”.

The Opinion poll, which had a sample size of 53,647 in Haryana, showed that after the BJP’s victory in Haryana Assembly elections 52 per cent of the respondents felt that not supporting the party in the Lok Sabha election was a mistake. Shedding light on the campaign strategy of the Congress, the Matrize Opinion Poll showed that the Assembly election voters did not show much confidence in Rahul Gandhi and his party’s narrative about attempts by the government to amend the Constitution.

Also, the issues of “Kisan, Jawan aur Pehalwan” played up by the Congress in Haryana fell flat on the ground, as shown in the Matrize poll. As many as 24 per cent of voters in Maharashtra said that they did not vote for the BJP in Lok Sabha polls due to confusion related to election symbols and candidates. At least 41 per cent of Maharashtra voters felt that the popularity of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has grown exponentially after the Assembly elections.