Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is winning surprising favor for the prime minister's office, but not where most experts expected. The August 2026 India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation survey shows the actor-turned-politician draws his strongest backing from the Northeast. He commands 18.5 per cent support there, dwarfing his 14.3 per cent standing in the South.
Vijay remains a greenhorn in electoral politics. He lacks the nationwide machinery backing heavyweights like Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi. Yet, he holds the third-most preferred spot nationally at 9.2 per cent. He trails Modi at 48.7 per cent and Gandhi at 27.1 per cent, but he comfortably beats regional leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, and Arvind Kejriwal.
The data reveals a stark regional divide. While he hits 9.6 per cent in the East and 8.5 per cent in the West, the North remains his weakest point at a mere 4.6 per cent. He is four times as popular in the Northeast as he is in the North. Experts note the trend is unusual because his party, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, has no footprint in the Northeast. "It could instead point to something more fluid in the political mood: the ability of a high-profile new entrant to attract voters who are looking beyond the established national choices," the report suggests.
Vijay launched the TVK in 2024. He took office as Tamil Nadu chief minister in 2026. His party now eyes the 2029 Lok Sabha election. Among Opposition leaders, he secures 12.2 per cent support to lead an alliance, placing him second behind Gandhi at 29 per cent. The CVoter research firm conducted the poll by directly surveying 25,184 people from July 1 to August 25. They also factored in 91,795 interviews from six months of tracking data.
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