Young Japanese Voters Show Weak Support for LDP, Despite High Support for Takaichi Cabinet

By Hirotaka Fukaya / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

17:15 JST, January 26, 2026

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has a particularly high approval rating among young and unaffiliated voters, but these groups would not necessarily vote for the Liberal Democratic Party in the proportional representation segment of the upcoming House of Representatives election, according to a recent opinion poll.

The poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun revealed that 36% of respondents said they would vote for the LDP — which is headed by Takaichi — in the election. This is short of the 39% the party held in the survey conducted before the 2024 lower house election in which the party lost a considerable number of seats.

The poll also found that the Centrist Reform Alliance, newly formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, also got off to a slow start with 9%.

Fifty percent of those who approve of the current Cabinet said they would choose the LDP for the proportional representation segment. For the survey held immediately after the inauguration of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in October 2024, the figure was 56%.

The Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’ coalition partner, was favored by 8%. Behind the drop for the LDP appears to be the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito. Both parties were chosen by less than 1% in the October 2024 poll but were favored in the recent poll by 10% and 6%, respectively.

The approval rating of the Takaichi Cabinet was 79% among people aged 18-39, 75% among those aged 40-59 and 58% among people aged 60 and over, in the latest survey. However, only 33% of people aged 18-39 chose the LDP as a party to vote for in the proportional representation segment, followed by 37% in both the 40-59 and 60 and over age groups. This suggests Takaichi’s popularity among young generations will not be a tailwind for the LDP.

For the CRA, 17% of those aged 60 and over said they would vote for it in the upcoming election, but the party was chosen by only 5% of those aged 40-59 and 3% of people aged 18-39.

In the October 2024 survey, the CDPJ and Komeito combined were chosen by 21%, 15% and 11% in the respective age groups. The latest survey found the CRA had garnered very little support from working-age voters.

The movements of unaffiliated voters will likely have a big impact on the outcome of the upcoming election. By party, 15% of them said they would vote for the LDP, 7% for the CRA, 6% for the JIP and 5% each for the Japanese Communist Party and Team Mirai. As much as 39% of unaffiliated voters said they had not yet decided which party to vote for.