Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 7 - 13 [POLITICS]

Abe Cabinet disapproval rating exceeds 50% for three straight months

The approval rating for the Abe Cabinet has been lower than the disapproval rating for three months in a row, a TV network opinion poll revealed recently.

Japan News Network (JNN) conducted a monthly public-opinion poll on October 3 and 4. The survey shows that the percentage of those supporting the Abe administration is 47.3% while 50.7% are opposing it. The Abe Cabinet’s disapproval rating has been over 50% since August.

The ruling coalition railroaded the controversial national security bills through the Lower House in July. In mid-September, the ruling bloc forcibly enacted the measures by bulldozing them through the Upper House.

Following the enactment of the war legislation, with the aim of deflecting the strong public criticism, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo abruptly unveiled a new economic policy (called the “three new arrows” of his Abenomics economic strategy), which aims to increase Japan’s GDP from the current 500 trillion yen to 600 trillion yen as a medium- and long-term target.

According to the JNN poll, 51% of the respondents have no hope for a success of PM Abe’s new economic policy, while 45% have some expectations. Asked whether they feel an economic recovery will result from the Abenomics policy, 10% said “yes” and 86% said “no”.

Past related article:
> Abe Cabinet support rate takes a dive [July 20, 2015]