Support for Japan PM Hits New Low as Voters Sour on Tax Package

Yoshiaki Nohara
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government hit a fresh low in a major poll to fall below a level seen as a danger zone for premiers, with respondents indicating they did not back his latest economic stimulus package.

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The approval rate for the Kishida administration dropped by 4 percentage points from mid-October to hit 28.3%, according to the poll from Kyodo News taken Nov. 3-5 and released Sunday.

The survey was the first since Kishida and his cabinet last week approved a larger-than-expected economic stimulus package that aims to boost growth and help households hit by inflation. The poll showed about three in five respondents disapproved of the plan that includes income tax cuts and aid for low-income households — partly because future tax hikes are planned.

Read More: Japan’s Kishida Unveils Stimulus Package as Support Sags

Perceptions that Kishida hasn’t done enough to shield voters from the effects of inflation have continued to weigh on his support even as he touts stimulus measures aimed at helping households. While no general election need be called until 2025, his unpopularity could prompt rival factions within his long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party to seek to replace him as leader.

The Kyodo poll is the latest to show support rates for Kishida have fallen to their lowest levels since he took office in October 2021 — with several of them coming in at lower than 30%. This is regarded in local politics as a make-or-break level for a leader.

Polling has consistently shown the LDP in a commanding position among all political parties, indicating the conservative group that has ruled Japan for almost all of the postwar period would likely keep control when the next election is held. The LDP had a support rate of 34.1% in the Kyodo survey while all of the opposition groups were in single digits.

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