From Tamil Nadu to the Northeast: Vijay’s Unexpected Rise in PM Popularity
The survey places Vijay third nationally in the preferred PM race, behind Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. His unexpectedly strong performance in the Northeast comes despite his TVK having little organisational presence in the region, raising questions about the emerging national appeal of the Tamil Nadu leader.
NETB24
New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has registered an unexpected surge in national political popularity, with the Northeast emerging as the region where he receives his highest support as a potential Prime Minister, according to the August 2026 India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation survey.
Vijay, who entered politics only recently, was named the preferred prime-ministerial candidate by 18.5 per cent of respondents in the Northeast. The figure is considerably higher than his 14.3 per cent support in the South.
Nationally, Vijay ranks third with 9.2 per cent, behind Narendra Modi at 48.7 per cent and Rahul Gandhi at 27.1 per cent. He also remains ahead of several prominent regional political figures, including Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal.
The regional breakdown presents an even more unusual picture. Vijay receives 9.6 per cent support in the East and 8.5 per cent in the West, while only 4.6 per cent of respondents in the North select him.
The Northeast result is particularly significant because Vijay’s TVK has little or no established political machinery in the region. The survey therefore raises the possibility that his appeal is being driven by his public profile and his image as a relatively new political entrant rather than by a conventional party network.
Vijay’s political journey has moved rapidly. After launching TVK in 2024, he went on to lead the party to power in Tamil Nadu in 2026 and became Chief Minister. Party leaders have subsequently begun discussing a larger national role for him, including a possible prime-ministerial bid in 2029.
His performance is not limited to the general PM preference question. In the survey’s assessment of potential Opposition leadership, Vijay received 12.2 per cent, placing second behind Rahul Gandhi’s 29 per cent.
The survey was based on 25,184 direct interviews conducted between July 1 and August 25, supplemented by 91,795 interviews from CVoter’s six-month tracking exercise.
For Vijay, the findings provide an important early snapshot of his national appeal. Whether that support can translate into an organised political presence outside Tamil Nadu, however, remains a major question ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
