Declining Popularity of Japan's Abe... Cabinet Approval Rating Falls Again to the 30% Range

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The approval rating of the Abe Shinzo Cabinet in Japan, which has significantly declined since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has fallen to the 30% range even in the conservative-leaning Yomiuri Shimbun's public opinion poll.

Yomiuri reported on the 6th that, according to a telephone survey conducted from the 3rd to the 5th targeting 1,086 voters aged 18 and over, the approval rating of the Abe Cabinet was 39%. In Yomiuri's previous poll conducted from the 5th to the 7th of last month, the Abe Cabinet's approval rating was 40%.

In this poll, the percentage of respondents who answered that they "do not support" the Abe Cabinet rose by 2 percentage points to 52% compared to the previous survey.

This is the first time in two years and three months since April 2018, when the Abe administration was shaken by the Moritomo and Kake Gakuen scandals, that the Abe Cabinet's approval rating has fallen to the 30% range in a Yomiuri poll (39%).

The Abe Cabinet's approval rating has significantly dropped due to controversies over COVID-19 response, the revision of the Public Prosecutor's Office Act, the former Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office chief's Mahjong scandal, and allegations of money politics involving the former Minister of Justice and his wife, and has recently been generally recorded in the 30% range in various polls.