Only 10.4 per cent of the Japanese public want Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race slated for September and continue serving as premier, the latest Kyodo News poll showed on Sunday.
In the nationwide telephone survey, conducted over two days from Saturday, the approval rating for Kishida’s Cabinet was 22.2 per cent, 2.0 percentage points down from a previous 24.2 per cent in May, underpinning the public’s continued dissatisfaction with his policy management.
On the other hand, the disapproval rate for Kishida’s Cabinet stood at 62.4 per cent, roughly unchanged from the previous poll.
Against the backdrop of Kishida’s unpopularity, 36.6 per cent said they want him to step down as prime minister as soon as possible.
A total of 78.9 per cent of respondents in the poll said a revised law to reform political funding rules enacted by Japan’s parliament last week does not solve the issue of money in politics.
The bill for the amended political funds control law was submitted to the Diet by the LDP in May following a slush funds scandal that has eroded public trust in politics.
Kishida has claimed the revised law will make political fundraising more transparent, while opposition parties have criticised it as falling far short of helping to resolve the issue.
On a question about a 40,000 yen (US$250) income and residence tax cut the government began at the beginning of this month, 69.6 per cent said they do not think it helps struggling households to make ends meet amid rising costs.
Regarding the reporting rules for policy activity funds provided by parties to senior lawmakers, there were growing calls for the receipts of such funds to be disclosed after 10 years or for the introduction of annual caps. But the revised law only stated that introducing such measures is an issue to be studied.
On that specific statement in the revised law, an overwhelming 90.4 per cent said it was not enough to address the problem, while only 7.6 per cent thought it was sufficient.
By political party, support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party headed by Kishida came in at 26.5 per cent, up 1.8 points from the previous survey.
Support for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan fell to 11.7 per cent from 12.7 per cent, while that of the Japan Innovation Party edged down to 7.2 per cent from 7.4 per cent.
Respondents with no particular party affiliation rose to 34.8 per cent from 32.3 per cent.
The survey called 512 randomly selected households with eligible voters and 2,624 mobile phone numbers. It yielded responses from 431 household members and 625 mobile phone users.
Some parts of Ishikawa Prefecture that were affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year’s Day were excluded from the survey.