New Delhi: A survey conducted by YouGov with a panel of US residents has revealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be among the least-known political figure, with 70% of the respondents saying that they don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is the only political figure even lesser known than Modi in the US, with 72% respondents not knowing him. 

In response to another question about how favourably the respondents viewed Modi, 2% said strongly favourable while 11% said somewhat favourable. This places him lower than Genghis Khan and Russian President, Vladimir Putin in the favourability ratings in the US. Mahatma Gandhi, in comparison, is in the top half of the list with 61% respondents viewing him favourably as a leader.

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In the survey, Modi has -3 (negative three) as net favourability – the percentage of those who view a historic figure positively minus those who view that person negatively. This gives us a better sense of how someone like Modi is viewed, since the low favourability of someone who’s relatively unknown like him is very different from the low favourability of Adolf Hitler. Gandhi has a net favourability of 50. 

Interestingly, Democrats and Republicans were in general agreement on their view of Modi, with -3 net favourability ratings on both sides.

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