(Source from Reuters/Alamy)Japan’s Fumio Kishida administration’s approval rating hit another low.
The approval rating, which began with the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, controversy over his director, and allegations of collusion between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the World Peaceful Unification Family Association, seems to have continued to decline.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 7th that Prime Minister Kishida’s Cabinet approval rating was 36% in a poll conducted on the 4th and 6th.
It is down 9% from last October, the lowest level since the government was launched in October last year.
In particular, 50% of the respondents said they did not support it for the first time in the survey, with the largest number of respondents saying they could not expect policies (33%).
Prime Minister Kishida said, “He has no leadership” (24%) was also considerable. Yomiuri analyzed that the decline in approval ratings among women and young people (18 to 39 years old) was noticeable.
The approval rating of women was 36%, down 11 percentage points from the previous month.
More than half of Prime Minister Kishida’s recent 71.6 trillion yen comprehensive economic measures were the only positive assessment (62%).
As part of high-priced measures, Japan has come up with measures to support electricity bills and support pregnancy and childbirth.
It also announced plans for large-scale investment in semiconductors, batteries, and robots, and Prime Minister Kishida was confident that Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) would rise 4.6 percent if the measure succeeded.
However, Yomiuri pointed out that the Kishida government’s economic measures did not affect its approval rating.
His approval rating has been hampered by allegations of collusion with the Unification Bridge
The approval rating of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (33%) also fell by 7 percentage points from last month, the lowest since the inauguration of the government.
Prime Minister Kishida ordered the exercise and investigation of the “right to question” under the Religious Corporation Act on the 17th of last month to escape the suspicion of collusion with Unificationism that arose in the wake of former Prime Minister Abe’s attack.
He was then virtually dismissed on the 24th of the same month when Yamagi and Daishiro, ministers in charge of economic revitalization, were revealed to have contact with the religion.
However, even within the Liberal Democratic Party, it was pointed out that “they had to resign a little earlier.” It has not affected the positive evaluation of public opinion since Yamagi and the former minister avoided the allegations of collusion with the unification bridge, saying, “I don’t remember.” On the other hand, 68 percent of the respondents said they were “not responding properly” to the North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles.
In response to the question of “Do you think China’s threat will increase” amid the inauguration of the third Xi Jinping administration in neighboring China, an overwhelming number of respondents said, “I think so” (80%). The support for the digital policy that the Kishida government has recently been pursuing with enthusiasm was also low.
Japan is seeking to link with health insurance cards through “My Number Card,” such as Korea’s resident registration card, with 49% of the respondents opposed to it, the survey showed. Only 44 percent said yes.
EJ SONG
ASIA JOURNAL
