Prime Minister Takaichi’s cabinet approval rating falls to 42.4% — The Japan Times

In Japan, support for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet fell by 1.7 percentage points in October to 42.4%. This is the lowest figure since she took office a year ago and the fifth consecutive monthly decline in the government’s approval rating, The Japan Times reports, citing a Jiji Press poll.

Decision on the minister

The share of respondents who do not support Takaichi’s cabinet stood at 29.7%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. The survey was conducted over four days among 2,000 people aged 18 and older nationwide; the valid response rate was 58.4%.

The poll results likely reflected public criticism of Takaichi’s decision to keep Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana in the government for more than two weeks despite allegations against him. Yana resigned on Wednesday.

Since September 30, reports had emerged about his remarks concerning cuts to road budgets for certain municipalities, as well as the free bus transportation of supporters during the campaign for the lower house of parliament election. The latter may have violated election laws.

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Nearly 80% of respondents viewed the decision to initially retain Yana in the government negatively: 49.6% called it problematic, while another 28.4% said it was somewhat problematic. The decision was supported by 13.2% of respondents.

Food tax

September’s government reshuffle and appointments to the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party were approved by 28% of respondents, while 50.6% expressed the opposite view. The appointments of Yana and Education Minister Yoshihiro Seki, who were linked to the LDP’s hidden-funds scandal, were described as problematic by 65.9% of survey participants.

At the same time, 55.3% of respondents supported a bill to cut the consumption tax on food products from 8% to 1% for two years starting in April next year. The document also provides for payments tied to income levels to mitigate the effects of rising prices. The ruling coalition plans to secure the bill’s passage before the current parliamentary session ends on December 12.