The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) commissioned perhaps the largest ever Voter Survey in any country. 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. The three main objectives of this survey were to identify the following: (i) voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, (ii) voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues, and (iii) factors affecting voting behaviour.
Focusing on Uttar Pradesh, this report provides an analysis of 10 most important governance issues as rated by the voters of Uttar Pradesh (out of the 31 listed in the questionnaire). These voters’ priorities are further examined in relation to the performance of the Government on those issues as perceived by the respondents. A three-level scale of GOOD, AVERAGE and BAD was used, where GOOD was given weightage equal to 5, Average was weighted 3 and BAD was weighted as 1. The survey covered approximately 40,000 respondents across all 80 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh.
KEY FINDINGS
- The Uttar Pradesh Survey 2018 shows that Better Employment Opportunities (42.82%), Better Hospitals/ Primary Healthcare Centres (34.56%) and Better Law Order/Policing (33.73%) are the top three voters’priorities in overall Uttar Pradesh.
- The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.06 on a scale of 5), Better Hospitals/ Primary Healthcare Centres (2.64) and Better Law Order/Policing (2.56) was rated as Below Average.
- In rural Uttar Pradesh, top most voters’ priorities were Agriculture Loan Availability (44%), Electricity for agriculture (44%) and Better Employment Opportunities (39%).
- The performance of the government on rural voters’ priorities of Agriculture Loan Availability (2.13 on a scale of 5), Electricity for agriculture (1.94) and Better Employment Opportunities (2.04) was rated as Below Average.
- In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing Agricultural Subsidy for Seeds/Fertilisers (1.92) and Higher Price Realization of Farm Products (2.15).
- For the urban voters in Uttar Pradesh, the top most priorities were Better Employment Opportunities (49%), Traffic Congestion (43%), and Water and Air Pollution (40%).
- The performance of the government on urban voters’ priorities of Better Employment Opportunities (2.10), Traffic Congestion (2.10), and Water and Air Pollution (1.92) was rated as Below Average.
- In addition, the government has performed poorly on Better Roads (2.07) and Noise Pollution (2.13).