Direction and satisfaction
MoodIs the state or country heading in the right direction? How satisfied are people with the government's work on specific services?
Services · Opinion polling
Voter mood, issues and leader ratings measured with a method you can disclose
Bharat Survey runs opinion poll survey work for newsrooms, researchers, civil society groups and political campaigns who want to know what voters think between and before elections. We draw a random sample of households, interview adults face to face in their language with our offline app, verify each interview by GPS, time and duration, and report results with sample sizes and error margins beside every number.
- Random household selection, no voter-list data
- Neutral, pre-tested question wording
- Hindi-first interviews in the respondent's language
- Results with bases and margins of error
3,000
Target homes
2,184
Visits
1,962
Completed
1,871
Accepted
Daily accepted surveysLast 12 days
Voter moodIssue rankingLeader ratingsGovernment satisfactionSwing segmentsConstituency pollsState trackersNeutral wording
Scale
An opinion poll can be a single assembly constituency or a multi-state tracker. The method stays the same: define the area you will report on, draw a random sample of polling-station areas inside it, then select households by a fixed interval.
What changes is how many interviews each reported region needs. We plan sample size from the smallest unit you intend to publish, not from a headline total.
- Assembly or Lok Sabha constituency polls
- District and regional splits
- State-wide trackers in rounds
- Hindi and regional-language fieldwork
What we measure
A mood of the voters survey is a set of modules. Most studies use four or five of these, depending on the question the client needs answered.
Vote intention
IntentionVoting intention on a private screen, with an 'undecided' option and a follow-up on how firm the choice is.
Most important issue
IssuesUnprompted first, then a prompted list, so the ranking reflects what voters raise themselves.
Scheme awareness and reach
DeliveryWhether households know about and have received benefits from named schemes, without asking for ID details.
Local representative ratings
LeadersAwareness and rating of the MLA or MP, and what people expect them to fix.
Profile
WeightingAge band, gender, education, occupation and locality type, used for weighting and analysis.
Issues
Issue based polling is where wording does the most damage. Ask 'Are you worried about rising prices?' and most people say yes. Ask 'What is the biggest problem facing your household?' and you learn what actually ranks. We start open, code the answers, then ask about specific issues in a balanced format with both sides stated.
Every questionnaire is piloted in a non-sample area. We time it, listen for confusing words in Hindi and regional languages, and remove questions that respondents misunderstand. The final wording appears in the methodology note so anyone can judge it.
Neutral conduct in the field
Enumerators carry no party material, don't reveal the sponsor during the interview and are trained not to react to answers. The vote question is answered on a private screen or slip so neighbours and family can't see it.
- No party symbols or colours
- Sponsor not named during interview
- Private vote recording
- Consent before every interview
Fieldwork
Random households, private answers, and a supervisor who checks the day's records before they count.
Household selected by interval
Private vote recording
Evening supervisor review
Leaders
A leader popularity survey is easy to do badly. Name recognition, not approval, often drives the headline. We separate the two.
Awareness before rating
We first ask whether the respondent knows the leader. Ratings are reported only among those aware, with the aware base shown.
Balanced scales
Five-point scales with equal positive and negative options, and rotation of names so no leader always comes first.
Preferred leader, unprompted
An open question on who people prefer for a post, coded afterwards, avoids handing them a short list.
No personal targeting
Findings are reported for groups and regions only. We don't build individual voter profiles or use voter-roll data.
Our view on opinion polls
Predictions
Election prediction survey: what it can and cannot do
Clients often ask for an election prediction survey. A pre-election poll measures intention on its fieldwork dates. Voters change their minds, turnout differs between groups, and in first-past-the-post contests small vote share shifts move many seats. We report vote share ranges and seat ranges where the design supports them, and we say plainly that these are estimates, not results.
Opinion poll survey company or opinion poll agency India: how to compare
When comparing an opinion poll survey company or opinion poll agency India-wide, ask for the sample per reported region, the sampling method, fieldwork dates, weighting variables and question wording. A firm that shares these readily is easier to trust than one quoting past 'accuracy'.
Legal timing
- Section 126, RP Act 1951: no display of opinion poll results on electronic media in the 48 hours before polls close
- Section 126A: exit poll results barred during the ECI-notified window
- Check the ECI notification for each election
Before fieldwork
Decide
- The smallest area or group you will report
- Fieldwork dates and publication plans
- Whether results are private or public
Ask the agency for
- Sample size per reported region
- Household and respondent selection rule
- Back-check share and GPS evidence
Publish with
- Sponsor, dates and sample size
- Margin of error and weighting note
- Exact wording of the vote question
Not the right fit if
- Push polls designed to spread a message under the guise of a survey
- Guaranteed winner predictions
- Collecting voter names, EPIC numbers or phone numbers for targeting
- Publishing results inside legally restricted periods
A good fit if
- Understanding issues and mood before a campaign
- Independent polls for media and research
- Tracking change across rounds with the same method
- Constituency-level research in local languages
Political survey solutions
Constituency, booth and war-room research.
Learn moreMedia poll partner
Polling partnerships for news channels and digital media.
Learn moreExit poll survey
Polling-day research with legal release timing.
Learn morePre poll survey
Pre-election rounds tracking movement.
Learn moreराजनीतिक सर्वे (Hindi)
Political surveys explained in Hindi.
Learn moreFAQ
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
What is an opinion poll survey?
It is a survey of a random sample of adults that measures views on issues, leaders, government performance and voting intention at a point in time. Results are estimates for the population sampled and carry a margin of error that depends on the sample size and design.
How many people should an opinion poll interview?
It depends on the smallest area or group you want to report. Around 1,000 random interviews gives roughly ±3 points on a single share before clustering effects. Constituency or regional splits each need their own adequate base, so multi-region polls need larger totals.
Do you use voter lists to select respondents?
No. We don't import voter-roll personal data. Households are selected at random within sampled polling-station areas using a fixed interval, and respondents are chosen within households by a set rule.
Can opinion poll results be published anytime?
Mostly, but not in the 48 hours before polls close in a constituency, when Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act restricts displaying election matter, including opinion polls, on electronic media. Exit poll results have a separate ECI-notified restriction under Section 126A.
Who commissions opinion polls from you?
The service is open to media organisations, researchers, civil society groups and political campaigns. Every client gets the same neutral method, and we don't change question wording to suit a sponsor.
India Nationwide, Hindi-first
Tell us the area, the questions and the dates. We will return a sample design, questionnaire outline and field plan.