Support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga slipped to its lowest since he took office about eight months ago, according to a poll conducted after he extended a state of emergency to try to control rising coronavirus infections.
The survey released Monday by broadcaster JNN found 40% of respondents said they supported Suga, down 4.4 percentage points from a month earlier. Asked whether they approved of his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, 63% said they did not, a 13 percentage point increase.
On top of this, Suga’s government is also taking a beating over its plans to host the Olympics in Tokyo from July amid worries that the sports extravaganza could turn into a COVID-19 superspreader event. Nearly 60% of respondents in a Yomiuri newspaper poll over the weekend said the games should be canceled.