Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the most popular candidate to lead the country if the Lok Sabha elections were held today, maintaining a significant lead over Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, according to the August 2025 Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey. PM Modi polled a lead of 51.5 per cent this month as opposed to 24.7 per cent for Rahul Gandhi, data shows.
When compared to February 2025, PM Modi continues to maintain an edge over Rahul Gandhi, with the former having a lead of 51.2 per cent while Rahul Gandhi polls 24.9 per cent, the survey says. The situation remains the same a year ago, with PM Modi’s rating dropping slightly, but still leading the charge at 49.1 per cent, while Rahul Gandhi is at 22.4 per cent, as per the poll.
In February 2024, PM Modi remained the most popular leader, having a lead of 54.9 per cent as compared to Rahul Gandhi, who polled just 13.8 per cent during the same period, the MOTN survey says.
On a question of which leader is suited to be the next prime minister if the Lok Sabha elections were held today, PM Modi leads the pack with 51.5 per cent, while Rahul Gandhi manages 24.7 per cent.
Other potential PM candidates include Union Home Minister Amit Shah (2.3 per cent), Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (1.8 per cent), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (1.6 per cent) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (1.5 per cent), the survey shows.
Amit Shah has emerged as the popular choice to replace PM Modi, according to 28 per cent of respondents, the August 2025 survey shows. The figure is slightly high compared to 26.8 per cent in February. On the other hand, 26.4 per cent of people favoured Adityanath as the next prime minister, a slight rise from 25.3 per cent six months ago, data shows.
Other potential leaders to succeed PM Modi are – Nitin Gadkari (7.3 per cent), Rajnath Singh (2.6 per cent) and Nirmala Sitharaman (2.6 per cent), the survey shows.
PM Modi remains India’s best Prime Minister ever, with a lead of 43.9 per cent, beating the likes of former prime ministers Manmohan Singh (12.2 per cent), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (13.9 per cent) and Indira Gandhi (13.6 per cent) in the August 2025 survey. However, the ratings of PM Modi have witnessed a dip as compared to February, when the figure was 50.7 per cent.
The India Today-Cvoter Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll was conducted between July 1 and August 14, 2025, surveying 54,788 individuals across all Lok Sabha segments. An additional 1,52,038 interviews from CVoter’s regular tracker data were also analysed. Thus, the opinion of a total of 2,06,826 respondents was considered for this MOTN report.
