Upper House Election: DPFP Head Tamaki Most Popular With Election Candidates; LDP’s Ishiba Gets 4th Best Rating Among Party Leaders

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:40 JST, July 11, 2025

Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki earned the highest popularity rating in a recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey that asked candidates for this month’s House of Councillors election about their views of party leaders.

Candidates were asked to rate the favorability of their views of the leaders of ruling and opposition parties on a scale of zero (most unfavorable) to 10 (most favorable). Tamaki got the highest average rating at 4.4, while Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, scored relatively low at 3.6.

Tamaki got 9.4 from within his party and 5.5 from candidates of Komeito and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, indicating he is favored both within and outside his party.

All party leaders got 9.0 or higher from candidates of their own party, except Ishiba, who scored the lowest at 8.8. The figure appears to reflect the fragility of his party’s base and dissatisfaction with the government’s performance.

In the survey, Tamaki was followed by CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda and Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya, who both earned 4.0, and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito at 3.8.