India is popular abroad but Modi not as much: Pew survey

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: While India is popular abroad, the global confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to do the right thing” when it comes to world affairs is not as great, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center published on Tuesday.

The survey conducted between February and May among more than 30,800 adults across India and 23 other countries by the Washingtonbased think tank captured opinions about India’s global power, perceptions of Modi and how Indians view other nations.

While about 34% had an unfavourable view of the country, a substantial share of 16% did not share an opinion. Nearly 80% of all Indian respondents viewed Modi favourably, the survey showed.

This included 55% having a “very favourable” view of the prime minister. Only about 20% of Indian respondents had an unfavourable view of Modi.

Yet, when it comes to respondents in 12 other surveyed nations, about 40% expressed a lack of confidence in Modi’s ability “to do the right thing regarding world affairs”, the survey said.

But about 37% said they had confidence in the Indian prime minister in this regard.