[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Although the Tokyo Olympics in Japan are being evaluated as a success, public opinion for replacing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has increased.
According to a telephone survey conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun from the 7th to the 9th with 1,065 voters nationwide (based on valid responses), 64% of respondents ultimately thought that hosting the Olympics was "a good decision," while only 28% disagreed.
However, the approval rating for the Suga Cabinet was 35%, which is 2 percentage points lower than the survey conducted last month. The approval rating for the Suga Cabinet, which soared to 74% at its launch in September last year, has dropped by more than half in less than a year, setting a new low.
In this survey, the person whom the Japanese public considers most suitable as the next prime minister was former Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba at 19%, followed by Vaccine Minister Taro Kono at 18%, and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi at 17%.
Although the Suga Cabinet received evaluations for relatively successfully holding the Tokyo Olympics under the difficult circumstances of COVID-19, the collapse of its support base is analyzed to be primarily due to the worsening COVID-19 situation.
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