NEW DELHI: A recent survey revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular choice as the next PM of the country.

According to the India Today-Karvy Insights Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey, 66 per cent of the people want Modi as the next PM in the coming elections while it was a distant eight per cent for Rahul Gandhi and five per cent for Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The other leaders who were preferred leaders in the survey are: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Talking about the methodolgy of the survey, the MOTN poll was conducted by a Delhi-based market research agency between July 15, 2020, and July 27, 2020, as reported by the leading channel. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, telephonic interviews were conducted using a standard structured questionnaire. It was also translated into regional languages.

In all, 12,021 interviews were conducted -- 67 per cent in rural and 33 per cent in urban areas -- spread across 97 parliamentary constituencies and 194 assembly constituencies in 19 states. In each of the assembly constituencies, a fixed number of interviews were done.

Earlier, In the January 2020 survey as well, Modi was the popular PM choice. While 53 per cent of the people chose Narendra Modi as the next PM, 13 per cent went with Rahul Gandhi.

Last year, Rahul Gandhi was adjudged the best-suited candidate among Opposition leaders for the PM's job. He got 52 per cent of the votes in his favour.