The approval rate for new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet stood at 40.3%, a Jiji Press opinion poll for October showed Friday.
The figure was lower than the 54.0% and 51.2% recorded for the Cabinets of his two immediate predecessors — Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga — right after the launches of their respective administrations.
The disapproval rate for the Kishida Cabinet, launched Oct. 4, came to 18.8%, while 40.8% of respondents said they “do not know,” apparently waiting to confirm any results from the new Cabinet. It was the first Jiji Press monthly opinion survey on Cabinet approval or disapproval since Kishida’s inauguration.
The support figure for Kishida’s Cabinet was the third lowest among the Cabinets of new prime ministers who took office in or after 2000, after 33.3% for the Cabinet of Yoshiro Mori and 38.6% for that of Taro Aso. Although the latest support rate exceeded 33.4% recorded in last month’s survey for the Suga Cabinet, it seems that people in Japan were little impressed by the inauguration of the new Cabinet.
The survey showed that 30.3% are dissatisfied with Kishida’s ministerial appointments for his Cabinet and executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party while 21.9% answered the opposite.
Of respondents approving the Kishida Cabinet, 12.3% said there is no one other than Kishida who is suitable to be prime minister, 10.5% said they have a good image of him and 9.4% said they trust the new national leader.
Of those disapproving the new Cabinet, 11.1% said they cannot expect anything from the Cabinet. The proportion of those who cannot trust him and that of those who do not support his party both stood at 4.7%.
The LDP had a support rate of 27.4%, up by 0.9 percentage points from the previous month, far higher than the 3.8% for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, up 0.8 points.
Support stood at 3.1% for Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, 1.5% for Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), 1.3% for the Japanese Communist Party, 0.5% for the Social Democratic Party, 0.2% each for the Democratic Party for the People and Reiwa Shinsengumi, and 0.1% for NHK to Saiban Shiteru To Bengoshiho 72 Jo Ihan De, a single-issue party critical of NHK, or Japan Broadcasting Corp., the country’s public broadcaster.
People who back no particular party accounted for 58.8%.
The interview-based survey was conducted over four days through Monday for 2,000 people aged 18 or over. Valid responses came from 64.0%.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.