New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS): As many as 51.6 per cent of the respondents in the five poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur prefer Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister as compared to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, whose approval rating is merely 30.2 per cent, as per the ABP-CVOTER-IANS BATTLE FOR THE STATES - WAVE 1 survey.

The survey also disclosed that except for Punjab, Modi is the most-preferred PM candidate in the four other states going to the polls next year.

More than 58 per cent of the respondents in Goa prefer Modi as the PM candidate, as compared to Rahul Gandhi (39.4 per cent).

Similarly, in Manipur, 56 per cent of the voters have preferred Modi over the former Congress president, who got the support of only 6.1 per cent respondents. However, 6.1 per cent have chosen none of the two.

In Uttar Pradesh, 48 per cent of the respondents back Modi as the PM, while 33.5 per cent prefer Rahul Gandhi for the top post. A total of 13.6 per cent of the respondents do not support either of the two.

In the hill state of Uttarakhand, 49 per cent voters support Modi as the preferred PM choice, whereas 30.2 per cent opt for Rahul Gandhi. A total of 9.6 per cent of the people surveyed support neither Modi, nor Rahul Gandhi.

Surprisingly, in the Congress-ruled state of Punjab, 39.4 per cent of voters do not support either Modi or Rahul Gandhi, while 9.8 per cent did not give their preference.

In Punjab, Modi is behind Rahul Gandhi in preference, with 30.0 per cent of the respondents backing Rahul Gandhi and 20.5 per cent supporting Modi.

The overall sample size for the survey was 81,006 in five states covering 690 Assembly seats.