Politics & Government

Yomiuri Poll Finds 69% Approve of Takaichi-Trump Summit; Only 30% Approve of Government Measures on Rising Prices

Reuters
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi looks at her watch during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Thursday.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:46 JST, March 23, 2026

A recent Yomiuri Shimbun poll found that 69% of respondents approved overall of the summit meeting held last week between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump, far exceeding the 19% who did not approve.

The nationwide public opinion survey was conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun from Friday through Sunday.

Support for the Takaichi Cabinet remained high at 71%, compared with 73% in the previous survey conducted on Feb. 18-19. The disapproval rating was 20%, up from 17%.

Asked about Takaichi’s statement to Trump that Japan would respond within the bounds of its laws to help stabilize the situation in Iran, 82% said they approved, far outpacing the 13% who said they did not. On the agreement for Japan to invest as much as more than ¥11 trillion in the U.S. energy sector, 49% approved and 36% did not.

The Cabinet’s average approval rating over its first five months in office was 71%, the highest since the Yomiuri began conducting telephone polling in 2008. That exceeded the 70% average recorded by the second Shinzo Abe cabinet.

The success of the Japan-U.S. summit appears to have helped the administration maintain its strong support. By gender, cabinet support stood at 72% among men, down from 74%, and 71% among women, down from 72%.

On the government’s response to rising prices, however, 30% said they approved, trailing the 59% who said they did not.

By party, support for the Liberal Democratic Party stood at 39%, down from 43%. It was followed by Sanseito at 5%, up from 4%; and the Democratic Party for the People at 4%, down from 5%.

Team Mirai was at 3%, down from 6%; the Japan Innovation Party at 2%, down from 3%; and the Centrist Reform Alliance at 2%, down from 5%;. The Japanese Communist Party was unchanged at 2%.

Nonaffiliated voters stood at 35%, up from 24%.

The survey was conducted on voters aged 18 or older using random-digit dialing, a method in which landline and mobile phone numbers are generated at random by computer.

A total of 1,012 responses were received.