New Delhi, Mar 29 (IANS): According to an exclusive opinion poll conducted in Karnataka by ABP-CVoter, there is very strong anti-incumbency against the BJP government led by Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai.
According to the survey, as many as 57 per cent of the respondents said they are upset and wish to change the state government. Corruption has emerged as the third most pressing issue in the poll-bound state, after unemployment and infrastructure.
According to the ABP-CVoter survey, 50.5 per cent of the respondents rated the performance of the BJP government as 'poor'. In contrast, just 27.7 per cent rated it as 'good' with another 21.8 per cent rating the performance as 'average'.
ABP-CVoter had conducted a similar opinion poll in Gujarat in late 2022 before the Assembly elections, wherein about 42 per cent of the voters had rated the performance of the BJP government as 'good' while 32 per cent had rated it as 'bad'.
Even in Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP lost narrowly to the Congress to go out of power, 38.6 per cent of the potential voters had rated the state government's performance as 'good' with 36.4 per cent rating it as 'poor'.
The exclusive ABP-CVoter survey interacted with around 25,000 respondents in Karnataka across demographics, age groups and identities.
The survey throws up more bad news for the BJP. When it comes to the Chief Minister, as many as 46.9 per cent of the potential voters rated the performance of incumbent CM Basavraj Bommai as 'poor', while just 26.8 per cent rated his performance as 'good'.
In the same survey, a considerably higher proportion (39.1 per cent) singled out Congress leader Siddaramaiah as their preferred choice to be the next CM, while 31.1 per cent opted for Bommai.
Anti-incumbency against the BJP government seems to have the least impact over perceptions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the survey, 47.4 per cent of the respondents rated the performance of Modi as 'good', while 33.8 per cent rated it as 'poor'.
The strong anti-incumbency sentiments tally with the ABP-CVoter projection that gives the Congress between 115 and 127 seats, a comfortable majority in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, which goes to the polls on May 10.