IANS-Matrize poll survey: 63 pc Bihar voters swear by PM Modi's popularity

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity is expected to have a significant bearing on the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections, as 63 per cent of respondents indicated their willingness to vote on his face value, said IANS-Matrize Opinion Poll on Tuesday.

The IANS-Matrize Opinion Poll, conducted between October 10 and November 3 with a sample size of 73,287, showed that 63 per cent of voters see PM Modi’s popularity as a very big influencing factor ahead of the voting on November 6 and 11.

At least 9 per cent of respondents had not decided about the possible impact of PM Modi’s popularity on the Assembly elections. At the same time, 8 per cent of respondents said that his popularity would have some impact on the results.

As many as 19 per cent of respondents said PM Modi’s popularity would have no impact on the Bihar elections, according to the Opinion Poll. The margin of error stands at 3 per cent.

Almost half of the opinion poll respondents, which included 15,390 first-time voters, favoured Chief Minister Nitish Kumar continuing in office after the elections, whose results will be declared on November 14.

A total of 46 respondents in the IANS-Matrize Opinion Poll said that Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) is their first choice for the post of Bihar Chief Minister. The Mahagathbandhan’s chief ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav, is the choice of 15 per cent of respondents.

Nitish Kumar’s popularity as the CM face is also linked to the satisfaction of electors with his functioning. As many as 44 per cent of respondents said they were “very satisfied” with the work of the Nitish Kumar-led government, and 38 per cent said they were “satisfied” with the regime’s performance.

A total of 121 assembly seats will go to the polls in the first phase and 122 seats in the second. The current 243-member Assembly’s term ends on November 22, 2025. There are 2,616 candidates in the fray for both phases.

Bihar has 7.43 crore registered voters, including 3.92 crore men and 3.5 crore women. The elections will be conducted across 90,712 polling booths.

--IANS

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