More than 60 percent of Japanese aged 18 and 19 who are eligible to vote for the first time in national elections do not believe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies will improve the country's economy, an online survey by Kyodo News showed Sunday.
The poll, which comes ahead of next month's House of Councilors election, was conducted Tuesday to Thursday to gauge sentiment among newly eligible voters following a legal revision last year that lowered the voting age from 20 to 18. The revised law took effect Sunday.
Among the 1,535 respondents to the online survey, 62.5 percent expressed doubt about the effectiveness of the Abenomics policy mix centering on large-scale monetary easing and flexible fiscal spending, while 37.5 percent expected the measures to help improve the economy.