Who Will Make The Best PM?

The Week, as reported by PTI, too has joined the surveys and opinion polls bandwagon after India Today last week, and its findings are pretty much in keeping with the rest of the surveys, broadly:

Details -- sample size, polling dates -- of the Week's poll are not available but the differences seem to be because the Week is counting SP & RJD, LJP as part of the UPA, whereas IT was counting them in others. What is fascinating to me, however, is the differences in perceptions as to who would make the best PM in these two polls. The Week's is the first poll that shows Mr Advani leading the race, not just over AB Vajpayee but the other eminences as well: (%)

These are the highlights of the Week's poll as per the PTI release:

Number of seats parties are expected to get:

• UPA -- 234 seats with Congress emerging as the single largest party with 144 seats.
• NDA -- 186 seats with BJP being victorious on 140 seats.
• Third Front -- 112 seats.

Best choice for the post of Prime Minister:

• LK Advani -- 15%
• Manmohan Singh -- 14%
• Sonia Gandhi -- 11%
• Rahul Gandhi -- 10%
• Mayawati -- 9% 
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- 8%

Among the UPA ranks, number of seats parties are expected to get:

• Congress -- 144 seats
• Samajwadi Party -- 32 seats 
• NCP-- 13 seats
• DMK and allies -- 13 seats
• Trinamool Congress -- 11 seats
• RJD-LJP -- 15 seats
• UDF -- 2 seats 
• National Conference -- 3 seats
• JMM -- 1 seat  

Among the NDA ranks, number of seats parties are expected to get:

• BJP --140 seats
• JD(U) -- 18 seats
• Shiv Sena -- 12 seats
• Asom Gana Parishad -- 5 seats
• Akali Dal -- 5 seats
• RLD -- 4 seats
• INLD -- 2 seats 

Among the Third Front, number of seats parties are expected to get:

• Left parties -- 33 seats
• BSP -- 29 seats
• AIADMK and allies -- 24 seats
• TDP/TRS -- 14 seats
• BJD -- 9 seats
• JDS -- 2 seats
• HVM -- 1 seat
• PRP -- 2 seats
• Others -- 9 seats

Which party can handle issues better?

• Congress-led UPA -- 37%
• NDA -- 27%
• Third Front -- 14%
• None -- 14 %
• Undecided -- 8 %

Key Electoral Issues?

• Economic slowdown and inflation -- 21%
• Internal security and terrorism -- 17%
• Corruption -- 14%
• Indo-US nuclear deal -- 1%

UPA's Top Failures?

• Price rise and inflation --  32%
• Terrorism and national security issues -- 26 %
• Compromise with the US -- 10%
• Rising crime against women -- 9%

UPA's Key Achievement?

• Farm loan waiver -- 19%
• NREGA -- 18%
• Economic growth -- 16%
• Political stability -- 16%
• Nuclear deal -- 14%