CSDS-LOKNITI 2024 PRE-POLL SURVEY | ISSUES THAT ARE LIKELY TO DOMINATE THE LOK SABHA ELECTION
Unemployment, price rise, and development are the top three issues; neither corruption nor Ram Mandir mentioned by voters as their most important concerns
-SANJAY KUMAR,NIRMANYU CHOUHAN-
In an electoral battle, issues are shaped through three processes. First, issues that are pushed by the talking classes, the media, the opinion makers, and the like. This is often known as ‘agenda setting’. Second, the political parties try and focus on issues that they believe are of importance and/or issues that they find easy to mobilise. Finally, irrespective of the former two processes, some issues may be occupying the public’s attention because they are part of the actual experience of the voters.
In order to capture the third set of issues, the pre-poll survey conducted by CSDS-Lokniti asked an open-ended question to respondents to identify an issue that they thought was most important in arriving at voting decision. Three issues appear at the top of the list: unemployment, price rise, and development. While respondents concerned most with development may tilt toward the BJP, voters’ concern about unemployment and price rise may hold a red flag for the party. That such respondents account for half of the sample should be a cause for concern for the BJP.
