Bhubaneswar: Better employment opportunities, drinking water and road connectivity are the top priorities for the voters in Odisha, as per a survey by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ADR conducted a voter survey between October 2018 and December 2018. The survey covered approximately 10,500 respondents across all 21 parliamentary constituencies of Odisha.
According to the survey, Drinking Water (44.05%), Better Employment Opportunities (41.95%) and Better Roads (37.30%) are the top three voters’ priorities in overall Odisha.
The performance of the government on all top three voters’ priorities of Drinking Water (2.30 on a scale of 5), Better Employment Opportunities (2.30), and Better Roads (2.28) was rated as Below Average. In rural Odisha, top most voters’ priorities were Availability of Water for Agriculture (43%), Drinking Water (43%) and Better Employment Opportunities (41%).
The performance of the government on rural voters’ priorities of Availability of Water for Agriculture (2.48 on a scale of 5), Drinking Water (2.32) and Better Employment Opportunities (2.27) was rated as Below Average.
In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.14), Better Roads (2.32) and Electricity for Agriculture (2.45) in Rural Odisha.
For the urban voters in Odisha, the top most priorities were Drinking Water (48%), Better Employment Opportunities (45%), and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (43%).
The performance of the government on urban voters’ priorities of Drinking Water (2.25 on a scale of 5), Better Employment Opportunities (2.39), and Better Hospitals/Primary Healthcare Centres (2.12) was rated as Below Average. In addition, the government has performed poorly in providing Better Roads (2.15) and Water and Air Pollution (2.27) in Urban Odisha.
A three-level scale of GOOD, AVERAGE and BAD was used, where GOOD was given weightage equal to 5, Average was weighted 3 and BAD was weighted as 1. The survey covered approximately 10,500 respondents across all 21 parliamentary constituencies of Odisha.
The three main objectives of this survey were to identify voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues, and factors affecting voting behaviour.
Focusing on Odisha, this report provides an analysis of the 15 most important governance issues as rated by the voters of Odisha (out of the 31 listed in the questionnaire). These voters’ priorities are further examined in relation to the performance of the Government on those issues as perceived by the respondents.
