The approval rating of Prime Minister Yosihide Suga's Cabinet dropped to a low of 35% since its inauguration last September, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun nationwide opinion survey conducted between Saturday and Monday.
The previous low was 37% in surveys in June and July.
The cabinet's disapproval rating, meanwhile, hit a high of 54%, up from 53% in a survey conducted July 9-11.
Regarding the Tokyo Olympics, the percentage of those who said holding the Games was a positive thing ballooned to 64, far above the 28% of respondents who said it wasn't.
On the other hand, only 38% said the Games were "safe and secure" as Suga had touted, while 55% said they were not.
In a question about holding the Olympics, 25% said the Games should have been canceled, much different from the 41% of respondents who had the same opinion in the previous survey. The national team's performance might have helped ease those harsh views.
In the latest survey, only 12% said the events should have allowed "more spectators," while 61% said it was a good thing that there were no fans.
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed indicated they would like to see Japan host the Olympics again sometime, while 38% said they did not.
Meanwhile, 31% supported the government's efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, up from 28% in the previous survey.
As for the political party affiliation of respondents, 32% said they support the Liberal Democratic Party, down from 36% in the previous survey and the lowest since the Suga Cabinet took charge.
Supporters of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan remained the same from the previous survey at 5%. Those who do not have any party affiliation accounted for 49%, up from the 43% in the previous survey.
When asked how long Suga should remain as prime minister, 18% said they want him to be replaced immediately, while 48% want him to finish out this LDP presidential term, which ends in September. That equates to 66% wanting him to be replaced by September, that percentage increasing from 59% in the June survey when the same question was asked.
Asked to name lawmakers ideal to become the next prime minister, former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba earned 19% followed by minister in charge of administrative reform Taro Kono at 18% and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi at 17%. Suga received only 3%.
Even among respondents who support the LDP, Suga came in fifth with 5%.
In the latest survey, The Yomiuri Shimbun used random digit dialing to reach a number of nationwide registered voters 18 or older, with valid surveys returned from 1,065 -- 424 from landlines and 641 mobile phones.
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