Japan Press Weekly

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2017 September 27 - October 3 [POLITICS]

Cabinet approval rate goes down in all opinion polls

All opinion polls carried out lately show that the Abe Cabinet’s disapproval rating has exceeded its popular support.

In an NHK survey broadcast on October 2, the public disapproval rating increased by eight points to 44% topping the approval rating. The latter went down by seven points from the previous survey to 37%. A Kyodo News survey conducted on September 30 and October 1 indicated the disapproval rate of 46.2%, up 4.9 points from the last survey, while 40.6% (down 4.4 points) was for the support rate. An ANN poll (Sep.30, Oct.1) also displayed a downward trend regarding the Abe government’s support rate with the disapproval rate of 46.3% (up 6.7 points) and with 36.9% (down 4.4 points) for the approval rate.

Major daily papers also released results of a similar survey, all showing the unpopularity of the Abe Cabinet.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep.28, Sep.29) survey, the disapproval rate rose by seven points to 46% in contrast to the support rate of 43%, a 7-point drop. The former in the Asahi Shimbun poll (Sep.26, Sep.27) was 39% (up one point) and the latter 36% (down two points). In the Mainichi Shimbun (Sep.26, 27), 42% (up six points) was for the disapproval and 36 % (down three points) was for the approval. The reasons for respondents’ reluctance to support the Abe regime concentrated on the followings: they cannot trust Prime Minister Abe Shinzo; they cannot expect a good outcome from his policies. Almost 40% of the respondents cited one of those reasons.

In all surveys, more than 60% said they disagree with the calling of a snap general election.

The general public is apparently harboring distrust of PM Abe and his decision to call for the Lower House election as this could be interpreted as an attempt to cover up the “Moritomo” and “Kake” scandals involving Abe himself.