Japan Press Weekly

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2015 July 15 - 21 [POLITICS]

Abe Cabinet support rate takes a dive

The support rate for Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s Cabinet sharply dropped right after the ruling coalition steamrollered the controversial national security bills through the House of Representatives.

At a Lower House plenary session on July 16, the governing Liberal Democratic and Komei parties forcibly took a vote on the war legislation. The opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, exited the chamber in protest just before the vote.

All opinion polls conducted by the media following the forced passage of those measures showed a sudden drop in the approval rating for the Abe Cabinet.

According to the poll by Kyodo News, the support rate fell to 37.7% from 47.4% in June. In contrast, the disapproval rate increased to 51.6% from 43.0%. The Mainichi Newspapers’ latest survey indicates that the approval rating is 35% (-7 percentage points from June) and the disapproval rating is 51% (+8 percentage points).

The Abe government’s support rate had exceeded the non-support rate ever since Abe took power in December 2012. After the Diet started deliberation on the war-related bills in late May, the support rating began to decline significantly. In opinion polls released early in July, the disapproval rate surpassed the support rate for the first time.

The war legislation is not the only reason for the administration’s increasing unpopularity. More and more people are raising their voices against the government plans to construct a new U.S. base in Okinawa, participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, restart offline nuclear reactors, and deregulate the use of temporary workers.

In demonstrations surrounding the Diet building every day, the number of placards calling for “overthrowing the Abe Cabinet” has been increasing.

Past related article:
> Young voices against war legislation echo across Japan [July 11-14, 2015]