The approval rating for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet has dropped to a record-low 37%, according to a nationwide survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun between Friday and Sunday.
The approval rate fell from the 43% recorded in a previous survey conducted May 7-9, as the disapproval rate hit 50%, up from 46% in May.
Immediately after Suga assumed office last September, his newly installed Cabinet enjoyed the support of 74% of Japanese voters, the third-highest approval rating on record. Nine months into his administration, that number fell to half. The latest poll numbers are the lowest for a Cabinet since the 37% seen last August, in the days leading up to Shinzo Abe's announcement that he would step down as prime minister.
Over the course of the pandemic, support for Suga's administration has waxed and waned inversely to the daily tally of novel coronavirus infections. However, the most recent plunge in public confidence comes even as the number of COVID-19 patients continues to decline amid the rollout of the nation's vaccination campaign.
When asked specifically about the coronavirus, 27% of respondents said they approved of the government's handling of the pandemic, a slight increase from the 23% who answered similarly in May, while the disapproval rate remained unchanged at 68%.
On the subject of vaccinations, 37% of respondents said they felt that inoculations had been proceeding smoothly, while 58% said they did not.
When asked how long Suga should continue to serve as prime minister, 43% -- down from 47% in an April survey -- said they want him to remain in office until his term as Liberal Democratic Party president expires in September, while 16% -- up from 12% in April -- said they want Suga to be replaced immediately. Combined, nearly 60% of respondents indicated that they want a change of leadership by the end of Suga's LDP presidential term in September.
▪ Opinion split on Olympics
As for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, 50% said they were in favor of holding the Games and 48% -- down 11 points from the previous May survey -- were in favor of cancellation.
Among those who wanted the Games to be held, 24% -- up from 16% last month -- supported capping the number of spectators, while 26% -- up from 23% -- advocated for barring audiences entirely. A majority of respondents, or 63%, felt Japan had not yet taken sufficient steps to prevent transmission of the virus as international athletes and staff begin to descend on the nation.
Support for the LDP, at 33%, also sunk to its lowest level since Suga took office, down from 37% in May. Approval for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan also fell to 5%, from the 7% recorded in May. Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents who said they did not affiliate with any political party rose to 48%, up from 44% last month.
To conduct the survey, The Yomiuri Shimbun used random digit dialing to call the landline and mobile phone numbers of registered voters age 18 or older nationwide, obtaining 1,070 valid responses from 428 landline phones and 642 mobile phones.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
