Is Punjab changing its mood?

ISLAMABAD: Some latest on ground assessments about the standing of different political leaders and political parties still show Imran Khan and PTI as the most popular countrywide. Punjab has, however, started changing its mood.

Informed sources said that the vast popularity gap between PTI and PMLN in Punjab has started shrinking in favour of the latter. The difference in terms of their popularity, which was around 15 percent high for the PTI a few months back, has come down to around 5 percent in the province.

Countrywide popularity gap between the two leading political parties still shows PTI considerably far more popular than the PMLN. However, in the case of Punjab, PMLN has shown improvement and is close to giving good competition to the PTI in the general elections in the province.

These sources, while referring to a latest survey, said that the countrywide present popularity of the PTI is higher than its popularity in 2018, when the last general election was held. In the case of PMLN, the party’s popularity is less than where it stood in 2018.

It is believed that the PMLN’s post-April 2022 unpopularity in Punjab, which has been its stronghold, has seen improvement during the recent months and after the return of Nawaz Sharif from self-exile.

Next five weeks, before the Feb 8 general elections, are said to be critically important for the political parties as well as the voters. As the election campaign by the political parties will gain momentum with every passing day, it is said, the voters’ trend will also change. The surveys and assessments about the election results become more relevant when done close to the polling day. A survey conducted by Gallup in June-July last year, had shown that 38 percent respondents strongly like PTI, 16 percent strongly like PMLN, 10 percent strongly like PPP, 15 percent strongly like TLP, 9 percent strongly liked JI, 6 percent strongly like MQMP.

Among politicians, according to the last year survey, the positive approval rating of Imran Khan was the highest at 60 percent followed by Saad Rizvi and Pervaiz Elahi 38 percent each, Shah Mehmood Qureshi 37 percent, Nawaz Sharif 36 percent, Shehbaz Sharif 35 percent, Maryam Nawaz 30 percent, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi 28 percent and others.

In Punjab, the positive approval rating of Imran Khan was 58 percent, Saad Rizvi 49 percent, Pervaiz Elahi 49 percent, Shah Mehmood Qureshi 43 percent, Shehbaz Sharif 43 percent, Nawaz Sharif 41 percent, Maryam Nawaz 37 percent, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi 33 percent and others. Bilawal Bhutto’s name is missing from the list because he was not assessed in the survey.