Yomiuri Poll: Takaichi Cabinet Approval Steady at 73%; Supplementary Budget Gets 61% Support

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:10 JST, December 22, 2025

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet received an approval rating of 73%, almost unchanged from the previous survey, and set a new high since the administration was launched in October, according to a nationwide public opinion poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun from Friday through Sunday. The disapproval rating was 14%.

In the previous survey (Nov. 21–23), approval stood at 72% and disapproval at 17%. This is only the third time since the 1978 Masayoshi Ohira Cabinet that an approval rating of 70% or higher has been maintained two months after taking office — the two previous cabinets to achieve this were those of Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi.

Support among working-age voters, including younger people, remains strong for the Takaichi Cabinet’s push for expansionary fiscal policy, including measures enacted during the extraordinary Diet session, and continues to underpin the Cabinet’s overall approval.

Regarding the fiscal year 2025 supplementary budget — which includes payments of ¥20,000 per child and subsidies for winter electricity and gas bills — 61% said they “approve,” while 29% said they “do not approve.” About the prime minister’s stated policy of “responsible and proactive public finances,” 74% chose “approve” (unchanged from the previous survey), while 16% chose “do not approve” (down from 17%).

By contrast, on the government’s response to rising prices, 35% said they “approve,” while 50% said they “do not approve.” As for household burdens caused by inflation, 85% said they “feel” the strain — an improvement of 7 percentage points from 92% in an April survey — though the results indicate the sense of pressure remains substantial.

On reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives, 78% were in favor, far exceeding the 13% opposed. On restarting nuclear power plants that meet regulatory standards, 63% were in favor and 26% opposed.

When asked about generative AI, a field in which the United States and China are seen to be leading, 75% said Japan should pursue its own domestically developed systems, while 13% said they did not think it should.

Party support was led by the Liberal Democratic Party at 30% (down from 32% in the previous survey), followed by the Democratic Party for the People at 7% (up from 4%), the Japan Innovation Party at 4% (unchanged), the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan at 4% (down from 5%), and Sanseito at 4% (down from 5%). Voters with no party affiliation accounted for 41% (up from 40%).

For the survey, responses were obtained from 431 people from 726 households confirmed to include eligible voters via landline calls, and from 603 people among 1,952 mobile phone respondents, for a total of 1,034. Response rates were 59% for landlines and 31% for mobile phones.