March, 2013

State of The State

1

Summary

1. The male, female classification was not asked for in the survey and was added by myself

Out of 82 respondents; 47 people supported BJP while 22 supported AAP. Rest voted for Congress, others

or blank

On plebiscite in Kashmir, it was a 50-50 split overall

o BJP supporters were primarily against the plebiscite while AAP supporters were for it

On challenges for the next 100 years, scarcity of resources and climate change were perceived as the

biggest threats

o Significant difference between the preferences of BJP and AAP supporters with BJP voting for

scarcity of resources while AAP supporters primarily voting for climate change and inequality

More than 45% of people do not feel the world is going in the right direction

o Women seem more disappointed with 60% women voting in the negative

The majority (~70%) was in favour of legalising prostitution regardless of gender and party affiliations

Irfan Khan, Vidya Balan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were the winners in their respective category. No

specific trend by gender or party except that Irfan Khan had a relatively higher share of women votes

~60% people like fantasy books and movies (80% women)

More details in individual pages

Results

Methodology

Survey collected through google docs; 82 respondents out of which 51 males, 15 females and 16

anonymous

All questions were optional so number of responses may differ across questions

Most respondents in 22-30 year range and will be a representation of the peer set than any broader group

I have provided my answer in a box at the top; since my peer set may be slightly more biased towards those

preferences vs.a neutral group

Raw, anonymous data provided in the appendix 1

47

24

6 3

BJP AAP Congress Others

Which party do you like in the upcoming elections?

BJP leading the pack among our respondents (as expected )

AAP with 22 votes does not seem to have lost much ground despite recent theatrics by Arvind Kejriwal

We also have 6 congress supporters in the sample; so they exist even if you don’t see them

Only 3 others implies the peer set does not believe in regional parties and is looking for a national party.

Will this trend also be reflected in the masses?

Male

Female

Anonymous

30 16 3 1

9 3 2

8 5 3

2

NS-AAP

Do you think people in Kashmir should be allowed to decide

whether they prefer India, Pakistan or independence?

39 43

Yes No

AAP

BJP

63% 38%

38% 62%

~50% of the educated, affluent

respondents believe that

Kashmir should be allowed to

decide its own fate

BJP supporter primarily against

the idea; AAP supporters

primarily for it

Females relatively happier to

give Kashmiris the control Male

Female

45% 55%

73% 27%

3

NS-Yes

What is the biggest challenge human kind is going to face in

the next 100 years

21

17

12

24

8

Scarcity of resources

Enviromental Degradation

Inequality / Bad Leadership

/ Challenges to Democracy

Others

Left Blank

BJP AAP

% of Total

13%

38%

25%

17%

8%

32%

17%

9%

34%

9%

Unsurprisingly, scarcity of resources

and environmental degradation appear

as biggest challenge for humanity

Topics relating to inequality, lack of

faith in capitalism & democracy and

bad leadership were surprisingly

prominent given the affluent voter base

Polarisation between BJP and AAP

supporters

BJP supporters primarily

considered scarcity of resources

and others (population, nuclear

war, intolerance, no problems, etc)

as main challenges

Environmental degradation and

inequality/ bad leadership is a

major issue for AAP supporters

Primarily Includes

population, nuclear war,

racism, intolerance

4

NS-Scarcity

of resources

AAP

BJP

Do you think the world has been moving in the right

direction in the last 100 years?

44

37

Yes No

Male

Female

43% 57%

60% 33%

More than 45% of respondents do not

feel that the world has moved in the right

direction in the last 100 years which is

surprising as last century has been

Least violent 100 years ever

Provided the best health care in

history

Significant growth in wealth and

technology

Significant improvement in

democracy

Females are more unhappy with the

direction (60%) compared to men (43%)

despite extraordinary achievements

made in the last century towards women

empowerment and liberalisation. What

do women want?

AAP supporters marginally more satisfied

than BJP supporters although the

difference is not significant

42% 54%

51% 49%

6

I told you, a happy

woman Is a myth!!

NS-Yes

56

26

Yes No

Do you think prostitution should be legalised?

1. http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21599351-laying-bare-supply-and-demand-oldest-profession-sex-lies-and-statistics?zid=319&ah=17af09b0281b01505c226b1e574f5cc1

AAP

BJP

42% 58%

30% 70%

Male

Female

33% 67%

40% 60%

~70% of respondents felt that

prostitution should be legalised

So, are we willing to see selling

sex as a business and not a

crime or is it just a reaction to

the sexual assaults on women

Males and AAP supporters

marginally more averse to the

idea but not significantly

As an aside, the prostitution

industry seems to be under a

lot of pressure as women have

become relatively loose across

the world in last 50 years and

men have felt less need to pay

for sex (sorry but that is the

reason )

69% of men supposedly paid

for sex in US in 1948 compared

to 15% in 2006

(Source: The Economist, link in

footnotes)1

5

I get screwed during the

month and get my salary at

the end of it.

Again, how is prostitution

illegal?

NS-Yes

Irfan Khan 40

49% Aamir Khan 36

44%

Shahrukh Khan

6 7%

Who do you think is a better actor?

1. The image is of a random person and not a poor attempt at drawing Irfan Khan

• Irfan Khan wins with 49% votes

while Shahrukh Khan ends up

getting only 7% of the votes.

• Contrary to expectations, Irfan

Khan was also popular with

females while Aamir Khan did

relatively better with males

• Given that most of us have spent

more money on Shahrukh Khan

movies than on Irfan Khan movies,

it can mean either of the following

o We are not honest

o We don’t want to watch the

best actors

Male Female Anonymous Grand Total

Irfan Khan 26 9 5 40

Aamir Khan 21 5 10 36

Shahrukh Khan 4 1 1 6

Grand Total 51 15 16 82

7

Hypocrites!!

All of them!!

Film hit karao SRK ki

and better actor Irfan

Khan1

NS-Irfan Khan

Vidya Balan 65

82%

Aishwarya Rai 8

10%

Preity Zinta 6

8%

Who is a better actress?

1. Image copied from the internet

Can be labelled the dud

question of the survey

Vidya Balan winning hands

down with 82% of the votes

May have gained partially due

to the recency effect as other

actresses are not seen on

screen anymore and are past

their best

8

And they told me I need to

be slim and trim to be

succesful1

NS-Vidya Balan

Who do you think is a better cricket captain?

53

28

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Saurav Ganguly

AAP

BJP

71% 25%

64% 36%

Male

Female

69% 31%

53% 40%

MSD wins the best captain

debate

Decent performance in the

current T20 WC may have

helped Dhoni

The hypothesis was that BJP

supporters may have higher

preference for Saurav

Ganguly given affiliations

towards a “strong leader” but

did not seem to be the case.

The difference was

insignificant.

9

I won 3 ICC titles vs. 0 for

Ganguly. Still 28 people

won’t buy my story!! Huh.

NS-MSD

Do you like fantasy books / movies (e.g. Harry Potter, Lord of the

Rings, Game of Thrones) ?

50

20

12

Yes A Bit No

AAP

BJP

50% 38%

64% 17%

Male

Female

57% 20%

80% 13%

13%

19%

24%

7%

~61% people like fantasy

80% women liked them vs.

57% men

The hypothesis was that

AAP supporters may have

had a higher interest in

fantasy (more faith in a hero

rising to save the nation).

The hypothesis was

rejected.

10

Avada Kedavra !!

NS-Yes

Appendix

Raw Data (1/3)

13

Sl No.

Who do you think is a

better cricket captain?

Who do you

think is a better

actor?

Who is a better

actress?

Do you like

fantasy books /

movies (e.g.

Harry Potter,

Lord of the

Rings, Game of

Thrones) ?

Which party do

you like in the

upcoming

elections?

Do you

think

prostitution

should be

legalised?

Do you think

people in

Kashmir

should be

allowed to

decide whether

they prefer

India, Pakistan

or

independence?

Do you think

the world has

been moving in

the right

direction in the

last 100 years? Gender

Summary of biggest

challenge

In maximum 10 words, what is the biggest challenge human kind is going

to face in the next 100 years? (e.g. food scarcity, nuclear war, etc.)

1 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP Yes Yes Yes M Scarcity of resources Food Scarcity

2 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes Congress Yes Yes Yes M Scarcity of resources Scarcity of resources.

3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP No No Yes F Climate Effects of global warming

4 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No M Scarcity of resources

filling surveys ;)

nuclear weapons are less of a threat and more of a power balance (until

terrorists get access to them in which case it becomes real prob)

otherwise scarcity in terms of resources will be a challenge and environmental

issues will take center stage

5 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan No BJP No No No M Scarcity of resources Food scarcity , environment degradation and islam

6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Preity Zinta Yes AAP Yes Yes Yes M Climate Climatic changes

7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP No Yes No M Climate Environment degradation

8 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP Yes Yes No M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Lack of political leadership

9 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai A Bit Congress Yes No Yes

10 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan No BJP No Yes No F Others Unhappiness

11 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No F Others The attitude towards girls, and their agency and right to make decisions.

12 Irfan Khan Yes AAP Yes Yes F

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Wars for domination

13 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes Congress Yes No Yes

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy

Capitalism

communal riots

14 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan No BJP Yes No No M Climate Global warming.

15 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No M Scarcity of resources Water

16 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP Yes No Yes M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy People revolutions against democracies & capitalism.

17 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP No No Yes M

18 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes M Others 100 years is too long to hypothesise. Population explosion

19 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP No Yes Yes M

20 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP Yes No Yes Others Religions war

21 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes No M Others Nothing, Humans evolve to overcome challenges

22 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan No BJP Yes No No M Scarcity of resources Fight for scarce resources

23 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP No No Yes M Scarcity of resources Scarcity of natural resources

24 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes No M

25 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No M Others Not interested

26 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan No AAP Yes No Yes M Scarcity of resources energy shortage

27 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No Yes Yes M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Economic inequality (leading to all the other causes)

28 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP No Yes Yes F Others

Clash of mental wisdom and nature's simplicity and no mental tactics of

nature..so human will have to choose between nature and mental realm.

29 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes No Scarcity of resources Water shortage

30 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No Yes No M Climate Environmental issues

31 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No Yes M Others alien attack

32 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan No BJP Yes Yes Yes M Climate Global warming

33 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP Yes Yes Yes M Scarcity of resources

1. Water scarcity, or

2. Viral pandemic

Raw Data (2/3)

14

Sl No.

Who do you think is a

better cricket captain?

Who do you

think is a better

actor?

Who is a better

actress?

Do you like

fantasy books /

movies (e.g.

Harry Potter,

Lord of the

Rings, Game of

Thrones) ?

Which party do

you like in the

upcoming

elections?

Do you

think

prostitution

should be

legalised?

Do you think

people in

Kashmir

should be

allowed to

decide whether

they prefer

India, Pakistan

or

independence?

Do you think

the world has

been moving in

the right

direction in the

last 100 years? Gender

Summary of biggest

challenge

In maximum 10 words, what is the biggest challenge human kind is going

to face in the next 100 years? (e.g. food scarcity, nuclear war, etc.)

34 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP Yes Yes No

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Disparity

35 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes F Scarcity of resources Energy deficit, Chemical weapons warfare,

36 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Preity Zinta No BJP Yes No Yes Climate Environment degradation impact

37 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes No F

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Widening of economic divide/ scarcity of resources

38 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes M Others Disruptions in sociological structures like family...

39 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No Yes No M Others

How to channelise efforts for essential technologies & cajole eople to prune

unnecessary excesses

40 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP No No No M Climate Preservation of natural ecosystem

41 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No No Yes M Scarcity of resources food scarcity

42 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No Yes Scarcity of resources Oil and water wars

43 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Preity Zinta Yes AAP Yes Yes No F Climate

Increasing Natural calamities as earth re-adjusts from the severe exploitation of

natural resources

44 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes Climate Environmental disasters, not necessarily of the Global Warming type.

45 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No Yes M Climate Climate issues

46 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No F Climate adulterated food, ozone layer depletion, shortage of safe drinking water

47 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP Yes Yes No Climate Nature's fury.

48 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai Yes AAP No Yes Yes M Others Dependency of human kind on technology

49 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Preity Zinta Yes BJP Yes Yes No M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Class divide, hungry people and billionaires all in same vicinity

50 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Preity Zinta A Bit BJP Yes No No M Others Nuclear Fallout, Water Scarcity, Climate change, Incurable diseases (Cancers)

51 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes Yes Yes Yes F Others Identity struggle and regression to groupism

52 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Aishwarya Rai Yes Congress Yes No Yes

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Inequality

53 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No M Scarcity of resources Potable water scarcity

54 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan No AAP No No Yes M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Economic leadership and preserving the nature.

55 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes Others Yes Yes No F Scarcity of resources water scarcity

56 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP No No Yes Others Racism

57 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP Yes Yes Yes

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy Job Scarcity/Anarchy.

58 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes Yes No No M Others Intolerance

59 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes M

Inequality /

Capitalism /

Democracy wealth imbalance

60 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes AAP No Yes No F Climate Environmental Issues

61 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan No Congress No No Yes M Scarcity of resources Water

Raw Data (3/3)

15

Sl No.

Who do you think is a

better cricket captain?

Who do you

think is a better

actor?

Who is a better

actress?

Do you like

fantasy books /

movies (e.g.

Harry Potter,

Lord of the

Rings, Game of

Thrones) ?

Which party do

you like in the

upcoming

elections?

Do you

think

prostitution

should be

legalised?

Do you think

people in

Kashmir

should be

allowed to

decide whether

they prefer

India, Pakistan

or

independence?

Do you think

the world has

been moving in

the right

direction in the

last 100 years? Gender

Summary of biggest

challenge

In maximum 10 words, what is the biggest challenge human kind is going

to face in the next 100 years? (e.g. food scarcity, nuclear war, etc.)

62 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP Yes No No M Others Loss of care for fellow human beings except closest family

63 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shahrukh Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP Yes No No M Scarcity of resources Lack of Natural resource

64 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai A Bit Others Yes Yes Yes M Others Population, unemployment and the resultant crime. Also, sustainable energy.

65 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP Yes No No Climate Dramatic change of weather patterns and food scarcity as a result of it.

66 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes No No M Others Trust ,respect and employable youths

67 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP Yes Yes Yes M Climate Environmental disaster, loss of species

68 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan No AAP Yes Yes No M Climate climate change,

69 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No No No

70 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP Yes Yes Yes F

71 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Aishwarya Rai Yes BJP Yes No Yes M Scarcity of resources scarcity of water

72 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan Yes Others No Yes No F Unpredictable

73 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes Congress Yes Yes Yes M Others Population explosion.

74 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai No BJP No No Yes M Scarcity of resources food, water...

75 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai A Bit BJP Yes No Yes M Others Population explosion, scarcity of resources then nuclear war

76 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No No Yes M Others

Nuclear war as well as food scarcity and freedoms to speak with lack of good

governance

77 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Preity Zinta No BJP Yes No Yes M Others Population.

78 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit BJP No No No

79 Saurav Ganguly Aamir Khan Vidya Balan Yes BJP No No No F Scarcity of resources scarcity of all resources

80 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Aamir Khan Aishwarya Rai Yes BJP Yes No Yes Scarcity of resources Water scarcity

81 Saurav Ganguly Irfan Khan Preity Zinta A Bit AAP No No Yes M Others Don’t know over a 100 year period

82 Mahendra Singh Dhoni Irfan Khan Vidya Balan A Bit AAP No Yes No M Others Trust deficit