Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been ranked as the best-performing chief minister among India’s major states in the latest India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll conducted in August 2025. The survey, which asked respondents to assess the performance of their own state’s chief minister, found that 44.6 per cent of respondents in Assam expressed satisfaction with Sarma’s governance, placing him at the top among chief ministers of states with more than 10 Lok Sabha seats.
According to the poll findings, Sarma edged past a closely packed group of contenders. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren followed jointly with satisfaction ratings of 41.9 per cent each, while Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel stood at 40.7 per cent. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ranked fifth with 40.4 per cent, marking a notable improvement from his 37 per cent rating recorded in February this year.
Despite leading the national rankings, the survey indicates a significant dip in Sarma’s approval within Assam itself. His satisfaction rating has declined from 55 per cent in February 2025 to 44.6 per cent in August. Political analysts interpret this drop as a sign of emerging voter fatigue and growing governance-related concerns as the state approaches assembly elections next year, even as Sarma continues to command stronger public approval than his counterparts in other major states.
The results come in the context of what observers describe as a broader political trend over the past decade, where a blend of assertive Hindu nationalist positioning and claims of administrative efficiency has shaped public perceptions, particularly in states governed by the BJP. This combination, analysts say, has allowed certain chief ministers to maintain a strong connect with voters in ways that leaders across the political spectrum have struggled to match.
The poll underscores that voters assess their leaders through multiple lenses, including governance delivery, administrative effectiveness and ideological alignment. By asking citizens to evaluate the performance of their own state leadership, the survey offers a granular view of how regional governance translates into political support at the grassroots level.
The Mood of the Nation poll is a long-running initiative of India Today, first launched in 2001 as a biannual exercise conducted around Republic Day and Independence Day. Now in its 46th edition, the survey remains one of the country’s most widely referenced measures of public opinion, tracking shifts in political mood and leadership perceptions across both national and regional landscapes.
