Lahore, Jan 2 : The latest on-ground assessments about the standing of different political leaders and parties in Pakistan reveal that former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI as the most popular nationwide, the media reported. Informed sources said that the vast popularity gap between the PTI and PML-N in Punjab province has started shrinking in favour of the latter, The News reported. The difference in terms of their popularity, which was around 15 per cent high for the PTI a few months ago, has come down to around 5 per cent in the province. The nationwide popularity gap between the two leading political parties still shows PTI considerably far more popular than the PML-N. However, in the case of Punjab, the PML-N has shown improvement and is close to giving good competition to the PTI in the general elections in the province, The News reported. The sources, while referring to the latest survey, said that the countrywide present popularity of the PTI is higher than its popularity in 2018, when the last general election was held. In the case of PML-N, the party's popularity is less than where it stood in 2018. It is believed that the PML-N's post-April 2022 unpopularity in Punjab, which has been its stronghold, has seen improvement during the recent months and after the return of party supremo Nawaz Sharif from self-exile, The News reported. The next five weeks, before the February 8 general elections, are said to be critically important for the political parties as well as the voters. As the election campaign by the political parties will gain momentum with every passing day, it is said, that the voters' trend will also change. The surveys and assessments about the election results become more relevant when done close to the polling day. A survey conducted by Gallup in June-July last year, had shown that 38 per cent respondents strongly like PTI, 16 per cent PML-N, 10 per cent PPP, 15 per cent TLP, 9 per cent JI and 6 per cent strongly MQMP. Among politicians, according to the survey, the positive approval rating of Imran Khan was the highest at 60 per cent followed by Saad Rizvi and Pervaiz Elahi with 38 per cent each; Shah Mehmood Qureshi 37 per cent; Nawaz Sharif 36 per cent; Shehbaz Sharif 35 per cent' Maryam Nawaz 30 per cent; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi 28 per cent and others, The News reported. /IANS