Arya News - This marks the first time in three months where PM Takaichi`s Cabinet approval rating had finally seen improvements. Takaichi`s decision to retain key members in their posts is likely among the main factors driving the rise in approval ratings.
TOKYO – The approval rating for the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stood at 59% in a Yomiuri Shimbun survey taken on Thursday and Friday, up 3 percentage points from the previous survey on Aug. 21-23, following the Cabinet’s reshuffle on Thursday.
It was the first time in three months that the Cabinet approval rating improved. Retaining key members in their posts appears to have been among the factors that pushed up the approval rating.
The survey also found the Cabinet’s disapproval rating was 30%, down from 32% in the previous survey.
The most common reason for supporting the Takaichi Cabinet was that “no one else is good,” given by 30% of the respondents, up from 28% in the previous survey, while the top reason for not supporting the Cabinet was “the prime minister is untrustworthy” at 29%, up from 26% in the previous survey.
Regarding the prime minister’s cabinet reshuffle and her revamp of the Liberal Democratic Party’s executive lineup, 52% approved the moves as a whole, while 34% disapproved. There was 75% approval among supporters of the LDP, 42% among opposition parties’ supporters and 37% among unaffiliated voters.
Takaichi’s choice of a member of the Japan Innovation Party as a cabinet minister was welcomed by 59% of respondents, but 29% were against the move. Former JIP Secretary General Hiroshi Nakatsuka was appointed as the minister for regulatory reform, although the party — which is the LDP’s ruling coalition partner — previously offered its support only from outside the Cabinet.
In recent political history, there have been cases in which cabinet reshuffles failed to boost approval ratings.
Cabinet approval ratings either declined or remained virtually unchanged in Yomiuri Shimbun surveys conducted immediately after cabinet reshuffles by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in August 2016, October 2018 and September 2019, as well as those by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August 2022 and September 2023. A cabinet reshuffle by Abe in August 2017 was the last one to be immediately followed by an increase in the approval rating.
When respondents were asked how long they would like Takaichi to remain in office, the most common response — at 43% — was “until September 2027, when her term as LDP president expires,” followed by “as long as possible” at 40% and “I want her to step down immediately” at 13%.
The LDP had the strongest support of any political party at 35%, up from 34% in the previous survey, while the JIP received 4% support, up from 2%. Among opposition parties, Sanseito received 5% support, up from 4%, and the Democratic Party for the People received 4%, up from 2%.
Minshu Kaikaku no Kai (Democratic reform party), a new opposition party launched Thursday by House of Representatives members from the Centrist Reform Alliance, received no support. In Yomiuri Shimbun surveys, zero indicates anything less than 0.5%.