TOKYO: Approval ratings for Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba have fallen ahead of an Oct 27 general election, a weekend poll showed, with another survey suggesting the ruling coalition could struggle to secure a majority.
Former defence minister Ishiba took office this month after being voted leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been in power for most of Japan’s post-war history.
Scandals over funding and LDP lawmakers’ ties to the Unification Church, compounded by voter discontent over rising prices, caused the party’s ratings to plummet during the tenure of Ishiba’s predecessor Fumio Kishida.
A Kyodo News survey on Saturday and Sunday put the current approval rating for Ishiba’s cabinet at 41.4 percent, down from 42 per cent a week earlier.
The disapproval rating was 40.4 per cent in the most recent survey of some 1,260 voters, Kyodo said on Sunday. Disapproval in the Oct 12 to Oct 13 poll was 36.7 per cent.
A separate weekend survey by the liberal-leaning Asahi Shimbun newspaper found public support for Ishiba’s cabinet at 33 per cent, below 39 per cent who disapproved.
Those results are worse than what Kishida faced in 2021 ahead of his first general election as premier: 42 per cent approval against 31 per cent disapproval, the Asahi said.
