India Today Mood of the Nation poll: Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma Best Performing CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has emerged as the best-performing chief minister among major Indian states according to the latest India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll conducted in August 2025. The survey, which asked respondents in each state to evaluate the performance of their own chief minister, found that 44.6 per cent of Assamese respondents expressed satisfaction with Sarma’s governance, placing him placing him at the top of the rankings for chief ministers of states with more than 10 Lok Sabha seats. 

The closest contenders were Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren, both at 41.9 per cent, followed by Gujarat’s Bhupendra Patel at 40.7 per cent. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath secured fifth place with 40.4 per cent, showing improvement from his February rating of 37 per cent.

Though he topped the tally, Sarma’s satisfaction rating in his home state has fallen sharply from 55 per cent in February 2025 to 44.6 per cent in August. The decline, analysts suggest, reflects signs of voter fatigue and governance-related discontent ahead of Assam’s assembly elections next year, yet his hold on public opinion remains stronger than that of his peers. 

The findings come against the backdrop of what analysts describe as a decade-long dominance of Hindu nationalist rhetoric combined with claims of administrative efficiency, particularly visible in BJP-ruled states. This combination has enabled ideologically assertive chief ministers to capture public imagination in ways that their counterparts across the political spectrum have found challenging to replicate.

The poll results suggest that Indian voters continue to weigh multiple factors when evaluating their leaders, including governance effectiveness, performance delivery, and ideological alignment. The methodology of asking residents to evaluate their own state leaders provides particular insight into how regional governance translates into political support at the grassroots level.

The Mood of the Nation poll is a legacy of India Today, which started in 2001 as a biannual survey. Conducted around Republic Day and Independence Day every year, the survey has since served as one of India’s most rigorous and widely cited gauges of public opinion, covering issues of politics, governance, and leadership. Now in its 46th edition, the poll continues to map the shifting pulse of Indian politics, reflecting both national sentiment and regional realities.