If in the August 2016 Mood of The Nation Poll (MOTN), Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fortunes showed a mild upswing after the NDA's seat forecasts had fallen precipitously in two consecutive MOTN polls, the January 2017 survey results bring glad tidings for the prime minister. It is the first major opinion poll since demonetisation, and voters have given Modi an unambiguous thumbs up.

India Today has collaborated with Karvy Insights to bring you the latest MOTN political opinion poll which clearly shows that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's magic is still intact.

So who will win 2019? Will the NDA continue to stay strong, or will a Bihar-style mahagathbandhan conquer all? The results of the assembly polls in five states, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will, of course, provide some indication.

HERE ARE THE 10 BIG TAKEAWAYS Were an election held today, the NDA would get 360 seats - a substantial gain of 56 seats over the survey done in August. What is more, the BJP alone would bring in 305 seats, giving it a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha and making it less dependent on allies. Modi's popularity ratings have also shown a remarkable surge: 65 per cent see him as best suited to be prime minister, up by 15 percentage points since August and way ahead of his nearest rival, Rahul Gandhi, who polled just 10 per cent of the votes. As many as 45 per cent believe that demonetisation will help curb black money while another 35 per cent feel it will help the economy. That is a solid 80 per cent who endorse PM Modi's demonetisation move. This, despite 55 per cent feeling that the government could have planned it far better, and 51 per cent opining that demonetisation had caused more pain than gain. Such is the rise that Narendra Modi has been rated as the best prime minister the country has had so far, scoring an even higher percentage of votes in his favour than two of the most popular former prime ministers, Indira Gandhi and Atal Behari Vajpayee. While PM Modi's demonetisation exercise received a mixed bag of response, his other initiatives like Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Jan Dhan Yojana and Digital India made him super-cool. At least 27 per cent thought that his performance in the office has been outstanding. After almost a wash-out of the Winter Session in the Parliament due to demonisation, 39 per cent still believe that it was UPA's fault for the Parliament stalemate. While Narendra Modi, as leader of NDA, may be the most popular in the country, of the 29 state chief ministers, the three most popular-Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Mamata Banerjee in Bengal and Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi-are all from non-NDA parties. Rahul Gandhi redux: His popularity may have waned since the last MOTN, but when asked to rate Rahul Gandhi's performance as Congress vice president, 39 per cent approved of it as either good or outstanding, compared to 33 per cent in August 2016. Rahul also scored positively on the question of who can successfully challenge Modi in 2019: 28 per cent chose him over 23 per cent six months ago. He scored much higher than Nitish, Kejriwal or even his own mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Who are the Others? It's obviously advantage NDA, with an increase of two percentage points over the last MOTN in August 2016. The UPA's fortunes continue to plummet, its dismal 25 per cent popular vote is a drop of a percentage point over the last MOTN. However, were the UPA to combine with most of the parties in the amorphous Others, the two could add up to a significant 58 per cent, turning the tide in the other direction. 11 per cent of the voters still think that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be the best person to lead a third front or mahagathbandhan, followed closely by Nitish Kumar with 10 per cent.

WATCH VIDEO

ALSO READ:Mood Of The Nation poll 2016: Can anyone challenge Modi Magic?

ALSO READ:Mood of the Nation poll: India's top leadership ratings

IN PICTURES:Mood of the Nation poll: Has Modi govt brought Achche Din?