'General Election Defeat' Japan's Ishiba Approval Rating Plummets to 32%... Drops 18%p in One Month

52.2% Hold the Opinion of Not Supporting

Prime Minister Ishiba of Japan campaigning for the general election. Photo by Yonhap News

Support for the Ishiba Shigeru Japanese Cabinet has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points just one month after its launch.

Kyodo News reported on the 29th, "According to an emergency telephone poll conducted on the 28th and 29th among 1,063 voters immediately following the House of Representatives election held on the 27th, the approval rating for the Ishiba Cabinet was 32.1%."

This is 18.6 percentage points lower than the 50.7% cabinet approval rating from a survey conducted over two days starting from the 1st of this month, when Prime Minister Ishiba took office.

According to this survey, 52.2% expressed disapproval of the Ishiba Cabinet. Regarding the continuation of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito coalition government, which failed to secure a majority in the general election, 53.0% responded that they "do not want" it to continue. Only 38.4% wished for the LDP-Komeito coalition to persist.

Among respondents, 91.4% said that the LDP's "slush fund scandal" influenced the ruling party's total seats plummeting from 279 to 215. Additionally, 72.5% expected that the political funding issues would not be eradicated as a result of the election. Furthermore, 79.2% opposed appointing lawmakers involved in the slush fund issue to key positions.

However, regarding whether Prime Minister Ishiba should take responsibility for failing to secure a majority and resign, 65.7% said "resignation is not necessary."

Meanwhile, the LDP and Komeito are considering cooperating with some opposition parties such as the Democratic Party for the People to maintain the administration. The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, whose seats surged from 98 to 148, is also seeking alliances with other opposition parties. The Japanese government and ruling parties plan to hold an election in the Diet on the 11th of next month to select the next prime minister.