Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has the third most favoured choice for the next prime minister of India, with 9.2% of respondents endorsing him, according to the latest India Today-CVoter Mood of the Nation (MOTN) opinion survey. Since Vijay entered electoral politics only in 2024, he has rapidly gained popularity.
According to the poll, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the top choice of 48.7%, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is second with 27.1%, as well as Vijay with 9.2%, with the actor-turned-politician ahead of the national political leaders of India.
The result is particularly notable since Vijay’s political career has been very young. From a popular Tamil movie actor who has had an impressive long film career (more than 40 years), he came to politics in 2024 with the launch of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). What was a big change from Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), as he was already one of the most popular Tamil cinema stars to leader of the politics of Tamil Nadu and India in the last years of his career has been a huge change in the political scene.
The latest poll gives a sense of the recognition Vijay has already received. Even though he ranks third among the Prime Minister candidates, a third-place rank is highly impressive considering the very short time he has spent in politics.
The survey has also come at a time when Vijay's potential national political ambitions have come to the fore. TVK leaders have increasingly spoken about a bigger role for Vijay beyond Tamil Nadu and have linked his political future to the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Some party leaders have even publicly projected him as a potential future Prime Minister.
Vijay also performed well in another section of the India Today-CVoter survey. When respondents were asked which current Opposition leader would be best suited to lead the INDIA Bloc, Vijay scored 12.2%, second only to Rahul Gandhi, who got 29%. Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, and Akhilesh Yadav had lower percentages.
The findings have also added to the debate over the future of Indian politics. National political contests of the past were dominated by politicians with decades of political experience and established party structures. Vijay’s emergence shows that celebrity-led political movements can generate immense public interest relatively quickly.
But an opinion poll should not be taken as a prediction of an actual election result. Public preferences can change dramatically over time, especially in the run-up to national elections. Electoral outcomes depend on alliances, candidates, campaign strategies, governance records, political issues, and voting patterns across India's diverse states.
The poll itself was conducted between July 1 and August 25, 2026, with 25,184 respondents. 91,795 interviews over the previous 6 months were also included in CVoter’s regular tracking as well.
But Vijay's third-place position nevertheless provides an important snapshot of his growing political profile. His popularity in Tamil Nadu is linked to his huge fan base, but the survey indicates that his name is also receiving recognition in a national political dialogue.
The actor and politician's rise has been watched closely since TVK was formed. His political messages have been on governance, social issues, and political change, and the party has been trying to establish its organisational structure in Tamil Nadu.
The talk about a national role, although, also reflects a broader trend in Indian politics in which strong regional bases can eventually become important players at the national level. Vijay’s success in Tamil Nadu means that whether he can turn his popularity into lasting political organisation and influence beyond Tamil Nadu is one of the key questions to be answered.
At least for now, the India Today-CVoter data will give Vijay’s supporters a significant talking point. A wide majority of respondents have elected him as their choice for the next prime minister of India, and this has been a national conversation very few would have expected so soon after his political debut, with 9.2% of respondents.
The road to the Lok Sabha elections of 2029 is long, and some political developments could alter the voters’ preferences before then. But Vijay’s current ranking shows that his political popularity is no longer restricted to the world of cinema.
As TVK pursues its political aims, how Vijay will be the leader of TVK will be the key to whether he can convert his popularity into electoral power. The survey doesn’t show that Vijay will become Prime Minister now, but it does reveal something very important: Vijay has already become an important name in India’s political conversation.
