Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet Approval Rating at 25%; Rating Continues to Be in 20% Range for 9 Consecutive Months

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:22 JST, July 22, 2024

The approval rating for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet was 25%, according to the latest monthly Yomiuri Shimbun poll conducted from Friday to Sunday. The rate is almost unchanged from 23% seen in the previous survey, the lowest level since the Cabinet’s inauguration in October 2021.

The Cabinet’s approval rating has been continuing to languish, staying in the 20% range for nine consecutive months.

Disapproval of the Cabinet slightly fell to 62%, down 2 percentage points from the 64% seen in the previous survey conducted June 21-23.

Among those who do not support the Cabinet, the largest portion, or 31%, said they cannot expect much from the Cabinet’s policies.

This was followed by 21% who said they cannot trust the prime minister and 20% who said Kishida does not show sufficient leadership.

More than half of the respondents who support the Cabinet, 57%, said there is no appropriate person to replace Kishida, followed by 20% who said they like the government led by the Liberal Democratic Party.

The government will reinstate a subsidy program for electricity and gas bills from August to October as an emergency measure against high prices. Seventy-one percent evaluate the measure positively, while 26% said they do not.

When asked about when the House of Representatives election should be held, the largest proportion of respondents, 41%, answered, “within this year.” This was followed by 27% who said, “when the current lawmakers’ term of office expires in October next year.” Twelve percent answered, “the same day as the House of Councillors election in summer next year” and 11% said, “sometime early next year.”

The LDP’s support rate fell from 25% in last month’s survey to 24%. The rating for both the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Innovation Party fell to 5% from 6%, while that for Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party was unchanged at 3% and 2%, respectively.

Those who do not support any specific party rose to 54% from 47%.

The survey polled voters age 18 and older by calling 740 households with landline numbers and 1,740 cell phone numbers chosen by random digit dialing.

A total of 1,031 people — 420 on landlines and 611 people on cell phones — gave valid answers. The response rate was 57% for landlines and 35% for cell phones.

Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Values in graph may not total 100%.