Bharat Jodo Yatra | Rahul Gandhi's Ratings Up But Modi Lead Intact: CVoter Poll

Rahul Gandhi's popularity has increased in all the states the Bharat Jodo Yatra has passed so far.

Kurnool: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with an elderly supporter during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Kurnool district, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022.

(Photo: PTI)

The ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra seems to have improved former Congress President Rahul Gandhi's popularity, a survey by CVoter has indicated.

According to the survey, Gandhi's approval ratings have improved in all the states that the Yatra has covered so far - that is Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana.

• But how much is the improvement in each of the states covered? Is there any variation between them?

• Has there been any change in Rahul Gandhi's appeal as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi nationally?

• Since visuals of the Yatra have been seen across India, has there been any change in the poll bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh?

We'll answer these questions just in a bit, based on the data provided by CVoter.

Rahul Gandhi's Ratings in the States Covered by Bharat Jodo Yatra So Far

Tamil Nadu

• People who are 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has gone up from 16.8 just before the beginning of the Yatra to 19.4 percent presently.

• However, this is still lower than the 25.5 percent recorded at the beginning of 2022 and much lower than 40 percent in the beginning of 2019.

• People who are 'somewhat satisfied' has gone up from 42.5 percent at the beginning of the Yatra to 45.2 percent presently.

• People 'not at all satisfied' has gone down from 24.8 to 15.8 in the same period.

Kerala

• People who are 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has gone up from 30.6 just before the beginning of the Yatra to 36.8 percent presently.

• This is higher than the 34.3 at the beginning of 2022 but lower than 53.3 in January 2019.

• People who are 'somewhat satisfied' has gone up marginally from 25.8 percent at the beginning of the Yatra to 27.7 percent presently.

• People 'not at all satisfied' has gone down from 30.7 to 26.3 in the same period.

Karnataka

• People 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has gone up from 29.8 percent just before the Yatra began to 34 percent presently.

• Those who are satisfied to some extent has fallen marginally from 26.7 to 25.7 percent.

• People who are not at all satisfied has fallen marginally from 24.3 to 23.4 percent.

• The increase in Gandhi's popularity in Karnataka is actually more stark when compared to the beginning of the year. Just 17.3 percent were 'very much satisfied' with him then. This increased to 29.8 just before the Yatra. Conversely, people who are 'not at all satisfied' fell from 33.9 percent in January to 24.3 percent just before the Yatra.

Telangana

• People 'very much satisfied' with Gandhi has gone down marginally from 29.1 percent to 27.6 percent.

• Those 'satisfied to some extent' has increased from 25.4 to 28.5 percent

• Those 'not at all satisfied' has remained more or less static - going from 29.6 percent to 29.5 percent.

Rahul Gandhi's Ratings in Poll-Bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh

Gujarat

• People 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has gone up from 19.4 percent just before the Yatra began to 24.2 percent now.

• Those 'satisfied to some extent' has reduced from 15.8 percent to 14.2 percent.

• People 'not at all satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has reduced from 53.9 to 53.4 percent. However, this is a big increase compared to 43.5 percent in the beginning of 2022.

• Interestingly, the slight improvement in Rahul Gandhi's ratings hasn't come at the expense of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but his other rivals like Arvind Kejriwal.

• Just before the Yatra had started, 53 percent in Gujarat picked PM Modi as their PM choice, 18.3 percent chose Arvind Kejriwal, 9.7 percent chose Rahul Gandhi and 19 percent chose others.

• The tracker now says that 57.4 percent in Gujarat want to see Modi as the PM, 16.3 percent picked Kejriwal, 13.5 Rahul Gandhi and 12.7 percent picked others.

Himachal Pradesh

• Just before the Yatra, 16.2 percent people were 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi, it has now reduced to 11.6 percent.

• However, those who are 'somewhat satisfied' has increased massively - from 11.2 percent just before the Yatra to 32.5 percent presently.

• Those 'not at all satisfied' has reduced from 65.3 percent to 54.4 percent

• Like Gujarat, on the PM question, Rahul Gandhi has mainly gained at Kejriwal's expense, but seemingly so has PM Modi.

• Just before the Yatra began, 64.5 percent people picked Modi as their PM choice, 7 percent picked Rahul Gandhi, 6.1 percent picked Kejriwal and 22.5 percent picked others.

• Now, PM Modi is at 67.8 percent, Rahul Gandhi at 9 percent, Kejriwal has fallen to just 1.4 percent and others are at 21.7 percent.

National Picture

The improvement in Rahul Gandhi's ratings is not as sharp as it is in the states covered by the Yatra so far and this is not surprising. Gandhi's appeal has always been better in the South and the real national impact may be visible after the Yatra has passed through more states.

• People 'very much satisfied' with Rahul Gandhi has increased only marginally from 21.4 percent to 22 percent.

• Those 'somewhat satisfied' has increased from 21.3 percent to 26.1 percent

• People 'not at all satisfied' has fallen marginally from 43.9 percent to 42.7 percent.

• However, in a one-to-one match-up against PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi's position remains more or less the same compared to the beginning of the Yatra. PM Modi retains a lead of over 29 percentage points over Gandhi from just before the Yatra, till the presently.