Poll Shows Approval for Cabinet of Japan’s Prime Minister Remains Steady; Majority of Respondents Concerned About Trump’s ‘America First’ Policy

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
21:00 JST, January 20, 2025
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Cabinet approval rating remained steady, according to an opinion poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
According to the survey conducted from Friday to Sunday, 40% of respondents said they approved of the Cabinet, up from 39% in the previous poll taken in December.
The disapproval rating for the Cabinet was 46%, down from 48%.
Regarding the reasons for support, most of the respondents at 46% said that no one else is good, while 26% said they have no policy expectations.

When asked about the “America First” policy advocated by Donald Trump who was set to begin his term as U.S. president on Monday, 72% of respondents said they felt uneasy about the policy, compared with 21% who did not feel so.
Ishiba is scheduled to visit the United States in early February to meet Trump, but 66% did not think Ishiba would be able to build a relationship of trust with Trump, compared to 23% who thought he could.
Regarding a policy to raise the “¥1.03 million barrier,” the annual income threshold above which income tax is levied, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito want to set the barrier to ¥1.23 million. According to the survey, 54% of respondents said the threshold should be raised even higher, followed by 28% who said it was appropriate and 11% who said it should remain at the current level.
The Democratic Party for the People are calling for the barrier to be raised to ¥1.78 million. Sixty-five percent of respondents said the amount of the increase should be decided by considering financial resources, while 25% did not think so.
Regarding support for political parties, the LDP was backed by 28% of respondents, up from 24% in the previous survey. Support for the DPFP increased from 12% to 13%, while the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan received support from 5% of respondents, down from 8%. Komeito was supported by 4%, down from 5%; Reiwa Shinsengumi was backed by 4%, up from 3%; the Japan Innovation Party was backed by 3%, down from 4%; and the Japanese Communist Party was unchanged at 2%. Thirty-four percent of the respondents said they did not support any particular party, down from 36% in the previous survey.
The survey was conducted among eligible voters aged 18 or older using the random digit dialing method. A total of 1,015 responses were received. Of the 757 landlines called, 408 people responded to the survey, and out of 1,820 mobile phone calls, 607 people responded. The response rate was 54% for landlines and 33% for mobile phones.
43% back wider use of original surnames
Most of the respondents to the survey said they support further unofficial use of original family names after marriage.
According to the poll, which gave three options, 43% of respondents support expanding opportunities to use unofficially original names while maintaining the current requirement for married couples to have the same surname. Most respondents also supported the option in a previous survey taken in September, when 47% provided the same answer.
An option to revise the law to introduce a selective separate surname system received support from 29% of respondents, up from 28% in the previous survey. The final option, to maintain the current system, was supported by 25%, up from 20%.
The percentages varied based on which political parties they support, with 37% of LDP supporters backing the wider unofficial use of maiden names. Forty-four percent of opposition party supporters backed the measure, along with 49% among non-partisan voters.
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