Approval Ratings Range from 67% to 75% in Polls
89% of Respondents View Stance Toward China Positively
Despite escalating tensions between China and Japan, public support for the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi continues to soar.
According to local media reports on December 22, major newspapers' polls conducted in December showed that support for the Takaichi cabinet ranged from 67% to 75%.
On this day, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that a telephone survey of 1,034 people conducted from December 19 to 21 found the approval rating for the Takaichi cabinet reached 73%.
Yomiuri noted that, since it began approval rating surveys with the Ohira Masayoshi cabinet in 1978, this is only the third time a cabinet has maintained an approval rating above 70% two months after its inauguration, following the Hosokawa Morihiro cabinet in 1993 and the Koizumi Junichiro cabinet in 2001.
A survey by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) of 916 people from December 19 to 21 also showed a high approval rating for the Takaichi cabinet at 75%, the same level as the previous month.
An Asahi Shimbun survey of 1,195 people from December 20 to 21 recorded a 68% approval rating for the Takaichi cabinet. In a Mainichi Shimbun poll conducted on 1,907 people from December 20 to 21, 67% of respondents said they supported the cabinet. In a nationwide telephone poll by Kyodo News conducted from December 20 to 21, the approval rating for the Takaichi cabinet was reported at 67.5%.
Although tensions between the two countries have been rising daily since Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks on December 7 indicating possible intervention in the event of a Taiwan contingency, the majority of respondents did not view this as a problem.
In the Kyodo News survey, 57% of respondents said they did not consider Prime Minister Takaichi's remarks to be "imprudent," surpassing the 37.6% who thought they were "imprudent."
In the Asahi Shimbun survey, 89% of respondents said they viewed Prime Minister Takaichi's stance toward China positively.
Amid ongoing China-Japan tensions and the upcoming return of pandas from Ueno Zoo-which will result in a "zero panda" situation in Japan for the first time since diplomatic relations were established in 1972-only 26% of respondents said the Japanese government should seek cooperation from China. As many as 70% said there was "no need" to do so.
Regarding the economic impact of China-Japan tensions, 53% of respondents said they were "concerned," while 45% said they were "not concerned."
In the Nikkei poll, 46% of respondents said they were "worried" about the impact of worsening China-Japan relations on the Japanese economy, while 48% said they were "not worried."
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