India is gearing up for the G20 summit on September 9-10, to be attended in New Delhi by world leaders, including President of the United States Joe Biden. In the context of this summit, the “non-partisan fact tank” Pew Research Center has released a global survey that shows 80 per cent of the Indian respondents have a favourable view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and that 70 per cent of them believe their country has recently become more influential.
The Pew survey also noted that public opinion of India was generally positive across the world, with a median of 46 per cent reporting favourable views of India as compared to 34 per cent unfavourable views. About 16 per cent did not share an opinion at all.
Views of India are most positive in Israel, where 71 per cent say they have a favourable view of the country, as per the research.
Pew said that the survey was conducted from February 20 to May 22, among 30,861 adults in 24 countries, including India. It examines global views of Prime Minister Modi, the scope of India’s global power, and Indians’ views of other countries.
About eight in 10 Indians report “favourable” views of Modi, including a majority (55 per cent) with a “very favourable” view, according to the survey result. This is Narendra Modi’s second term as Prime Minister and he is also seeking a third term in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Only about 20 per cent of Indians expressed an unfavourable opinion of Modi in 2023, the Pew survey found.
“Indian adults are more likely to believe India’s power is on the rise. Around seven in 10 Indians believe their country has recently become more influential. This stands in comparison with a 2022 survey conducted across 19 countries, where a median of only 28 per cent said the same,” Pew said.
According to the report, about half of Indians (49 per cent) say that the influence of the US is getting stronger in recent years, and 41 per cent say the same about Russia. Meanwhile, Indians’ views on China’s influence are somewhat more mixed, it said.