Ishiba Cabinet Approval Rating Hits Low of 31％ as Broad Majority Takes Issue with PM’s Gift Certificates, Survey Says

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, March 18, 2025

The approval rating for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Cabinet has dropped to 31%, the lowest level since it was inaugurated in October last year, according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun survey. The number was down eight percentage points from the survey last month.

At the same time, the disapproval rating rose to 58%, up 15 percentage points from 43% in the previous poll, according to the nationwide survey conducted from Friday to Sunday.

Declining support for the Cabinet is thought to reflect a harsh public reaction, after it was learned that Ishiba gave out gift certificates each worth ¥100,000 to 15 House of Representatives members in the Liberal Democratic Party who he had dinner with at the prime minister’s official residence.

Consensus on poor leadership

Ishiba is set to endure further difficulties in keeping his administration afloat. As the opposition parties are determined to press Ishiba to take responsibility in Diet deliberations, the movement to bring him down could spread within the LDP, propelled by concern over the House of Councillors election that will take place this summer.

The latest Cabinet approval rating beat the previous record low of 34%, which was found in a survey conducted last October immediately after the lower house election, in which the LDP and its ruling bloc partner Komeito suffered a crushing defeat.

Asked why they did not support the Cabinet, 26% of respondents said they did not expect anything to come out of its policies, while the same share said they could not trust the prime minister, followed by 19% who said the prime minister lacked the ability to lead.

Conversely, 51% said they supported the Cabinet because “no one else is good,” which was the most common response. Fifteen percent said they supported it because the prime minister could be trusted.

When asked about the gift certificate incident, 75% said they thought it was a problem, significantly exceeding the 19% who thought it was not. Asked whether they considered Ishiba largely responsible for the matter, 69% said they did, while 26% said they did not.

Additionally, 76% said they did not think Ishiba was demonstrating leadership in the administration, while 16% said they did.

Regarding the high-cost medical expense benefit system, which reduces the burden on patients who have high medical costs, Ishiba has changed tack several times on raising patients’ maximum out-of-pocket expenses, and he has forced the budget proposal for fiscal 2025 to be revised yet again. As to the decision to forgo a hike in these out-of-pocket costs, 61% said they approved, while 31% said they disapproved. Asked about the government’s handling of the matter, 47% were supportive, while 45% disapproved.

On the question of whether high school tuition should be made free regardless of parental income, including at private schools, 49% were in favor of eliminating the fees, while 46% were against.

As for political parties, the LDP was supported by 26% of respondents, unchanged from the last survey. The Democratic Party for the People was backed by 12%, up from 8%; the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan took 6%, down from 8%; the Japan Innovation Party was unchanged at 3%; Reiwa Shinsengumi was backed by 3%, down from 4%; Komeito was supported by 2%, down from 3%; the Japanese Communist Party fell from 2% to 1%; and the Conservative Party of Japan was supported by 1%, up from 0%. The percentage of voters with no party affiliation was 40%, up from 39%.

The survey was conducted by calling 749 home landlines and 1,970 mobile phone numbers selected via random digit dialing. From the numbers called, 1,023 people gave valid answers, 415 on landlines and 608 on mobile phones.

All respondents were eligible voters age 18 or older.