Better job opportunity is a major concern among the voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
A nationwide survey with a sample size close to three lakh voters has found that better healthcare along with safe drinking water & better roads dominate their concerns.
A Delhi-based NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which carried out the survey has claimed it to be the largest ever voter survey in any country so far.
The survey has found top 10 voters' priorities that Indian voters prioritize are employment and basic amenities (like healthcare, drinking water, better roads etc.) above all governance issues (including terrorism and strong defence/military).
As per All India Survey 2018, better employment opportunities (46.80%), better health care (34.60%) and drinking water (30.50%) are the top three voters' priorities at the all India level, followed by better roads (28.34%) and better public transport (27.35%) at the fourth and the fifth place, respectively.
Notably, agricultural related governance issues featured predominantly in the all India top 10 voters' priorities e.g. availability of water for agriculture (26.40%) that was ranked sixth, agriculture loan availability (25.62%) that was ranked seventh, higher price realization for farm products (25.41%) that was ranked eighth, and agriculture subsidy for seeds/fertilisers (25.06%) that was ranked ninth.
ADR has claimed that as per the survey, Modi Government's performance score on the top 10 voters' priorities is below average.
The performance score of the government on the jobs front was below average with a score of 2.15 out of 5. The other top two voters' priorities, better healthcare (2.35) and drinking water (2.52) were also rated as below average. In fact, all of the top ten voter's priorities were rated below average.
The worst performance of the government, as rated by the voters, was on the issues of encroachment of public lands, lakes etc., terrorism, training for jobs, strong defence/military, eradication of corruption, lower food prices for consumers and mining/quarrying.
The comparative analysis between All India Mid-Term Survey 2017 and All India Survey 2018 reveals that the top two voters' priorities (Better Employment Opportunities and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres) have continued to remain at the top.
The significance of better employment opportunities as voter's highest priority has increased by 56.67% from 30% in 2017 to 47% in 2018. At the same time, the performance of the government on this issue declined from 3.17 to 2.15 on a scale of 5.
Amongst the 32 states and UTs that were surveyed, in 29 of them, voters have given below average ratings to the government for its performance on all top 3 voters' priorities at the state level. This is with the exception of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.
The survey was conducted between October 2018 and December 2018, prior to the General Elections to the Lok Sabha 2019. It covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies with 2,73,487 voters participating in this exercise spread among various demographics.
